Greg Bedard's - Boston Sports Journal

RIFan

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Greg Bedard is back with a subscription website that looks promising. Sean McAdam & Chris Price will be writing for him. Bruins and Celtics beat TBD.
Welcome Boston sports fans,

In case you haven’t heard from our friends at 98.5 The SportsHub, we are launching BostonSportsJournal.com and an accompanying Apple/Android app on Monday. It will be a paid subscription site, but the first week will be free. We want you to come in, take a look and try us out. If you like what you see, we hope that you buy a subscription and become a valuable part of our community.

Couldn’t be more proud of the team we are putting together to serve you. After covering the NFL for four years at Sports Illustrated, I am very excited to return to my strength: immersing myself in one team, the Patriots. So while I’ll also be overseeing the site and doing some general columnist duties, you’ll also be getting my unique game and training camp practice breakdowns.

Sean McAdam, one of the most respected and experienced reporters on the Red Sox beat, is already back doing what he does best: nosing around the Sox to find you the unique coverage you deserve. Chris Price, who has done it all from beat coverage to writing books on the Patriots, will be your day-to-day conduit to One Patriot Place. We have a dynamite Bruins reporter lined up, but you’ll have to wait until next month to find out exactly who that is. And we hope to announce our Celtics reporter in short order.

That’s the team that we’re starting with. I hope to expand quickly (we definitely want to add a Revolution writer starting next season), but that will depend on subscription levels. The model is the subscribers pay for the talent, and our advertising partners will cover a travel budget that will rival any of the other Boston outlets.

These are the things we can promise you:

  1. Our coverage will be hyperlocal to Boston and New England. If it doesn’t matter to you, it doesn’t matter to us.
  2. No clickbait articles. We don’t care about clicks and generating national headlines. We only care about serving our subscribers.
  3. No contrived opinions. We will mean what we say, and say what we mean. And if we don’t, call us out on it.
  4. The will be a 100 percent politics-free zone. We want to this to be an oasis from the outside world.
  5. We will be interactive and accessible. Lots of Q&As, mailbags, in-game chats and Tweet-ups. Podcasts, videos and other multimedia projects are in the works.
  6. We will not clutter up your experience with annoying popup/clunky ads and autoplay videos.
In short, the unique part of all of this is you have a hand in everything we do. It’s going to sound cliché, but it’s true: this site will be built on the backs of our subscribers and we will listen. If you want more Patriots coverage and you get your buddies to sign up, we’ll add another reporter down in Foxborough. If Bruins fans love what we’re doing and sign up in droves, we’ll add another reporter there. You are going to be part of the plan and the execution of the site.

Why now? Well, after being laid off at SI, I looked at the landscape, mulled over a few opportunities and decided three things: 1) I no longer wanted to work for people who didn’t have a plan for the future; 2) I wasn’t going to work for people who didn’t know what consumers really wanted on a daily basis; and 3) I didn’t want to work for people who knew more about venture capital than journalism. A few people on Twitter told me I should look into the model going on at DK Pittsburgh Sports and I instantly knew it was the future.

Dejan Kovacevic started by himself three years ago and now he’s up to nearly 40,000 paid subscribers plus has major sponsorships with Allegheny Health Network and PNC Bank, among others. He’s up to a staff of 11 writers plus others who work on the site. If he can do that in Pittsburgh, why can’t we do that in Boston? Well, we’re going to give it our all to make it happen or die trying.

The other natural question is, “Why should I pay?” My short answer is if you’re satisfied with the coverage you’re getting of your teams, then don’t. But if you want an alternative where you have a voice and aren’t dictated to, with a fresh approach and reporters that will shoot you straight with no bias, then come join us.

Look, we’re an independent and very small company. We’re not a huge corporation. There’s no CEOs or EVPs getting gold parachutes. We don’t have VC money bankrolling us, looking to make a buck off you and us. For everyone on our site and our families, this is our primary means of income. Coverage costs money, including what we pay ourselves (and trust me, it’s not much right now). Travel costs are real, including going to and from practice. Nobody anywhere is making enough money just off advertising, unless you like all sorts of annoying ads and videos as part of your browsing experience. If you want a fresh perspective on Boston sports and a clean experience consuming it, then give up that expensive coffee once a month and join us. Every day will be working to make sure that you don’t regret it.

Thanks for checking us out, and I hope you like what you see on Monday.



Greg A. Bedard
Owner, editor and columnist for BostonSportsJournal.com.
 

Rusty13

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I like what I'm hearing so far. Especially this: "[This] will be a 100 percent politics-free zone. We want to this to be an oasis from the outside world."
 

nattysez

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Yeah, I'll probably subscribe and see how it goes. I like Bedard and McAdam.
 

Rusty13

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I wonder who he is bringing in for C's coverage? I'm hoping it's one of the RedsArmy guys.
 

RIFan

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If they get the Bruins beat right (and I strongly suspect they will - Joey Mac?), they'll gain a lot of subscribers from Bruins fans. That beat is tremendously underserved.
 

RIFan

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Joe McDonald would seem to make sense as the B's guy.
I know his contract ran through August with ESPN, so based on the announcement saying they have one lined up but can't announce indicates he's probably the one. I run into him from time to time and will ask.
 

TFP

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If Joey Mac is the B's guy they can just take my money at this point. Definitely in for him, McAdam, and Price. I could do without Bedard but so be it.

I like the idea and hope it succeeds.
 

JCizzle

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I really like McAdam. Assuming they make a good Celtics hire, then I'm in.
 

cshea

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I know his contract ran through August with ESPN, so based on the announcement saying they have one lined up but can't announce indicates he's probably the one. I run into him from time to time and will ask.
I can't think of anyone else that it could be.

As you noted, the Bruins beat has been embarrassingly bad for a long time now so anything new from this site will be refreshing. I was always a Joey Mac fan at the WWL, it'd be great to have him back on strictly the Bruins beat. They probably could do some real damage if they hire the right hockey guys.
 

Maximus

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Big fan of McAdam and Bedard, they are both pro's. Price is fine. Interested to see who gets the Bruins and Celtics beat.
 

Rusty13

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I'm seeing conflicting reports on the cost. Either $4.99 per month or $35 for the year?
 

TFP

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Yeah I didn't see any way that would be Pete. He doesn't seem like a grind it out, beat writer, columnist type personality. I say that without criticism - he's built an awesome brand for himself almost completely from scratch, that just doesn't seem to be it.

I'd bet almost anything it's Joey Mac.
 

Marbleheader

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I hope he's successful, but it seems doomed to fail. The number of people looking for informed analysis are limited and in the information age, people are generally unwilling to pay when they can get the gist of it on Twitter in a sentence or two.
 

thehitcat

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I hope he's successful, but it seems doomed to fail. The number of people looking for informed analysis are limited and in the information age, people are generally unwilling to pay when they can get the gist of it on Twitter in a sentence or two.
Then let's all sign up and make it a success. We have the numbers to be a big part of this working if it's worth it and I'd love a site that could work hand in hand with the best posters we have on this site, SOSH.com and ITP. We want good content lets show it.
 

TheoShmeo

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Bedard's mid-week analysis in the Globe was stellar. In contrast to what Ben Volin does in that spot now, Bedard frequently offered novel points and was very insightful. I'm inclined to give this a shot.
 

Jeff Van GULLY

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I wonder what Bedard will do with Price on the Pats beat. Bedard really worked himself up as a national writer with SI and MMQB and this is going to be "hyper local". If he's mainly just managing and posting an occasional piece that would be a shame.

It's an interesting model and one I may subscribe to but really want to know who the other two writers are. The model is predicated on selling the writing talent and as of now, he can't disclose two of the "Big 4". So, to me, the timing seems a bit awkward.
 

cshea

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Pats training camp opens next week. 2/3 of the talent on the site is on the football side, so I'm guessing Bedard wants to start pumping out content right away and capitalize on the wave of interest in a new Pats season. McAdam can jump in and has the trade deadline and playoff races to work with. This is the quiet portion of the hockey and and basketball offseasons anyways, so I think he can wait until closer to NHL/NBA camps opening up. Seems he's got the Bruins guy ready to go anyways but he just can't announce it yet.
 

The Napkin

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Yeah I didn't see any way that would be Pete. He doesn't seem like a grind it out, beat writer, columnist type personality. I say that without criticism - he's built an awesome brand for himself almost completely from scratch, that just doesn't seem to be it.

I'd bet almost anything it's Joey Mac.
We know it's not Haggs so that's one bullet dodged at least.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Hmm.....CHB knows so one might think it's a Globe guy. KPD or Fluto?
If it's KPD, I am definitely not buying this thing. It was either this past Sunday or the Sunday before, KPD wrote a story about the New England Whalers and their reunion of the first WHA Championship team that was so god damn awful that I almost couldn't finish reading it. Purple prose, "clever" turns of phrases; it was all just such terrible writing. And the thing that sucks, I was interested in reading about it.

KPD loves to be different and literate, but he doesn't have the chops to do it.
 

The Napkin

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KPD and Fluto were the other bullets to dodge and either would turn me into a non-sub. They're worthless to read for free. Blech.
 

cshea

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I think Fluto is fine when he actually, you know, writes about hockey. It's the endless foodie tweets and columns. "Hi everyone! Bruins are in Ottawa for a playoff game tonight, but who cares about that, here's my lunch!" If it's KPD they won't get a dime from me.

Those 2 are still employed so I think it has to be Joey Mac. He fits in as a recently laid off guy who has worked the team beat in the past. Same boat as Bedard, Price and McAdam.
 

Gorton Fisherman

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I'll subscribe, at least for a while, just on general principles, probably regardless of who they end up hiring for B's and C's coverage. I like McAdam, Bedard, and Price, and would love to see this type of business model succeed. I tend to agree with Farhad Manjoo of the NYT that encouraging the growing trend of paying directly for content you like via subscriptions is probably the best path forward to get us to a point someday in the future where consuming content on the Internet doesn't generally suck.
 

The Napkin

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It's not Fluto or Dupont.
Great!

Fluto doesn't do the food posts anymore. Wish he did. I loved them.
Fluto's last 10 tweets:
NASCAR (7/17)
food (7/16)
food (7/16)
Article on Kuznetsov (7/16)
NASCAR (7/16)
Tour de France (7/15)
NASCAR (7/15)
NASCAR (7/14)
article (by Alex Speier) on Chris Sale (7/11)
Tour de France (7/1)

4 on NASCAR
2 on TdF
2 on food
1 article on hockey (non-Bruins)
1 retweeted baseball article

Nothing about Czarnik signing (7/18)
Nothing about McIntyre and Subban signings (7/14)
Nothing about development camp (7/6)

Fluto doesn't do anything anymore.
 

Chad Finn

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Great!



Fluto's last 10 tweets:
NASCAR (7/17)
food (7/16)
food (7/16)
Article on Kuznetsov (7/16)
NASCAR (7/16)
Tour de France (7/15)
NASCAR (7/15)
NASCAR (7/14)
article (by Alex Speier) on Chris Sale (7/11)
Tour de France (7/1)

4 on NASCAR
2 on TdF
2 on food
1 article on hockey (non-Bruins)
1 retweeted baseball article

Nothing about Czarnik signing (7/18)
Nothing about McIntyre and Subban signings (7/14)
Nothing about development camp (7/6)

Fluto doesn't do anything anymore.
Fluto has never been much of a Twitter person. Diverse list, though.
 

j-man

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he is a great guy real stand up me and him talked about denver turns out he was right but i was right about SD/LA
 

leetinsley38

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The B-Robb news is good too. I agree with Gorton Fishsticks - will be voting with my dollars for this to succeed as well.
One minor disappointment from someone that wants this to succeed - wish they had some sort of signup button or call to action on the site before they started going public, on 98.5 etc to talk about this. GB went on the top rated sports radio show, Felger pumped it up as a major announcement, and yet there's no way to give them my $ or even take an email address to be notified when it goes live.
 

Marceline

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The B-Robb news is good too. I agree with Gorton Fishsticks - will be voting with my dollars for this to succeed as well.
One minor disappointment from someone that wants this to succeed - wish they had some sort of signup button or call to action on the site before they started going public, on 98.5 etc to talk about this. GB went on the top rated sports radio show, Felger pumped it up as a major announcement, and yet there's no way to give them my $ or even take an email address to be notified when it goes live.
At the very bottom of their page you can provide your email address.
 

JimD

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I hope he's successful, but it seems doomed to fail. The number of people looking for informed analysis are limited and in the information age, people are generally unwilling to pay when they can get the gist of it on Twitter in a sentence or two.
The Athletic seems to be off to a promising start in Chicago, Toronto and a few other markets, although it does have the advantage of deeper pockets than Bedard's site unless he brings in other investors.

Seriously thinking of subscribing just for McAdams. Great hire.
 

Dotrat

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Subscribed as a 'Die Hard' this morning--I'm really rooting for sites like this and ITP for those of us who prefer our takes served warm.
 

allstonite

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He's not going to be right? It says their guy can't start for 3 weeks. It's also probably the deadest part of the NHL schedule anyway