Ski Racing Media Seeking New Owner

[Jack skis]

Ski Racing Media, and the Black Family the long time owner/operators of SKI RACING just announced that they are seeking a new owner. After the death of family patriarch Gary Black in 2016 the family kept it going but have now decided they can no longer carry on. Sad news for those of us who considered SKI RACING an important source of ski racing news and information, since finding a successor can't be an easy task, as the potential market for such an enterprise is small, and the financial benefits must be slim at best. I hope my opinions about finding a buyer/new operator are incorrect and that SKI RACING will long continue soon find a way to continue, albeit under new direction. My thanks to the Black Family and publisher Claire Brown for their efforts to provide ski racing news for all these years.

 

[Philpug]

Hmmm.

 

[Muleski]

I think there may be 2-3 "Sugar Daddies" who might take it over, attempt to re-energize it, and perhaps turn a profit....but would not be terribly concerned if it were not making a buck. There is also likely a very strong vested interest on the part of the USSA/USST to see it continue. Perhaps they jump in to some degree. It's also an important communication vehicle for the ski academy and big club universes. It's a site to list coaching openings etc.

Sadly, it's also an indication of just how small the audience is who actually follows and cares about this part of the sport. And to be honest, despite the efforts of Claire Brown, and Sean Higgins in particular, the content and "meat" has really slid downhill {no pun intended}. So much of what shows up on the site is just regurgitated press releases. From FIS, from the USST, from athletes' Instagram accounts. I guess I expect more. The articles actually written by Sean and Claire are great. The stuff produced by the interns, while well intended is not so much. Often full of inaccuracies or very "surfacey" observations.

I know that many of us remember looking forward to the good old "newspaper" format copying arriving in the mailbox. Before we had this internet thing. It was the ski racing "bible", and a bid deal when you made there top 100 ranked list of juniors in the early fall.

Would suspect that it has very little value, BTW. I believe that Gary Black's family would like to see it continue, and may not be anticipating any big score. Of course it's a pretty good URL.

Hope it doesn't completely disappear! Have to think a few people have been wondering how to fold it into what they are doing. This is not exactly unexpected news. I am sure they would have preferred to outline the future in the announcement, as I believe that quite bit of conversation has taken place.

Fingers crossed.

 

[Jack skis]

Muleskin would you be willing to say they struggled to survive rather than slid downhill? Whatever the source of their content, it was content on a subject valuable to some of us, and there wasn't much coming from any other source, at least that I had access to. Like you I'd followed the old "newspaper" content for years, even reading the predecessor publications many, many years ago. Can't think of the name now, but the editor of the Aspen Times in the 1970's had previously reported on ski racing from Europe, all alone I believe, back in the 1960's. Name like that often come to me around 3am so if you send me your phone number I'll call when it comes to me.

 

[Kneale Brownson]

Just post it

 

[James]

Just post it

Hannibal Lector gets an address:

Hopefully someone will buy it and put out decent content.

 

[Kneale Brownson]

Sometimes it's pretty difficult to find advertising support for such publications.

 

[Muleski]

Muleskin would you be willing to say they struggled to survive rather than slid downhill? Whatever the source of their content, it was content on a subject valuable to some of us, and there wasn't much coming from any other source, at least that I had access to. Like you I'd followed the old "newspaper" content for years, even reading the predecessor publications many, many years ago. Can't think of the name now, but the editor of the Aspen Times in the 1970's had previously reported on ski racing from Europe, all alone I believe, back in the 1960's. Name like that often come to me around 3am so if you send me your phone number I'll call when it comes to me.

I think that’s a better way of stating it, Jack. My understanding is that it's been a real struggle, particularly since Gary Black's death. And more so because of the timing. The game had changed before then. The whole thing has moved to digital, and it's a very, very narrow niche. Yes, some people are very interested, and passionate about ski racing. However the number is small, some would say minuscule, and from what I hear not growing. You can pull up race calendars and results elsewhere online. The FIS site is becoming much more "newsy". Other social media platforms are full of information. Claire and Sean are friends of my adult kids. Good people, but super savvy business people in this niche? Don't know.

I have heard from a few people who actually really tried hard {because they also have a lot of fondness for the old publication} to purchase some advertising, that SR's prices were {as described to me} "through the roof....almost a joke." And the real challenge, as I understand it, has been selling the paid subscriptions. The "premium" subscription, which does not add much, is a tough sell. So the revenue side of this equation just seems to have a lot of challenges. Probably struggles.

We'll see. There are a few people heavily involved with the sport who have very deep pockets and might be persuaded to take this on, an try to jump start it. The deep pockets not to purchase it {who knows what the value is}, but more so to be able to run it at a continual loss....just because they can.

I don't think that the website brings more people into the sport, or creates more interest, so when people rally around "needing to get more people and more kids involved in ski racing", I don't see this as playing a role in that. That's just my opinion. A bit over a year ago, when it was becoming clear that SR could not continue, and the Black family had reached the end, I had a couple of conversations with younger friends who are in the ski racing world, and in the marketing, communications, PR and related businesses. I asked if we should look into this. The universal responses were "Why?, No, and Not if we want to make money....."

I hope we'll see somebody pick it up. Now what it becomes, no idea.

The URL skiracing.com is worth something. Not sure how much and to who. They were not quick enough to pick up the Instagram handle @skiracing. Some individual who has 6 followers and a dozen posts has that one. The one that this group uses is @skiracingmedia. I assume that the @skiracing handle could be acquired. Most people sitting on "assets" like that have their price.

Many fond memories......and I don't need that 3AM wake up call! 3AM your time is still early on the East Coast!

 

[David]

I've enjoyed reading this for years! I really hope they can find a new owner even if the price to consumers has to go up!

 

[Jack skis]

Me too David. We can but hope.

 

[Rudi Riet]

As @Muleski says above, Ski Racing has been in a tailspin since digital media took off, and with the resultant drop in advertising revenue saw good writers find better paying gigs. Given the partial investment in their company by U.S. Ski and Snowboard for a number of years (a partnership which ended two years ago), you'd see a lot of verbatim press releases used as story copy - something SR still suffers from to this day.

It is a shell of its former self. And that's a pity, because a lot of great sports media people cut their teeth at Ski Racing over the years.

But as mentioned, they resisted the digital revolution. I remember only a few years ago when their subscription model was a pay-to-download PDF version of the print magazine, with a few articles being published online. That was a miserable failure back when Gary Black was still alive, and a sign that Ski Racing Media had zero clue how to go about a digital model. Their current monthly payment model is better, but the content isn't that great if I'm to be honest. Their original writing from senior staff is still excellent and often insightful. The rest? Very hit-or-miss.

Whoever buys Ski Racing needs to have a willingness to pursue the in-depth coverage, and a budget that allows seasoned reporters to follow the circuits and build rapport with the various governing bodies of the sport. They need to hire proper journalists with ski racing backgrounds, folks who have shown an acumen for writing and researching their material. For their junior staff, they need a better mentoring system to pass along the craft (and it is a craft to write effectively to deadlines). And they need editors to proof their spelling and grammar - I've spotted some real humdingers over the past few years.

They need to branch out from being so laser focused on covering only the U.S. skiers with any depth (this is the side-effect of being a clearing house for U.S. Ski and Snowboarding's PR wing). Back in the 1980s, Ski Racing hit a great balance, covering junior racing and masters racing with depth and clarity, while also writing excellent pieces about international teams and star athletes. The typeface was small, but the amount of material was vast and informative. Sure, USST athletes got great coverage, but so did the Canadians, Europeans, South Americans, Asians, New Zealanders, and Australians. They covered the world of ski competition, head to toe.

So that needs to be a focus for whoever ends up buying the company. They need to redouble any efforts to make the publication shine. They must make a compelling argument for the subscription fees. They need to offer something more than the same press release anybody can get on Google News or the AP app. Ski Racing needs to be "must read" stuff for any fan or scholar of the sport.

If the buyers don't understand this, they're destined to the media scrap heap that's claimed so many victims over the past two decades.

Just my $0.02. I wish the Black family luck in finding a buyer who is willing to make the necessary investment and commitment.

 

[K2 Rat]

The good 'ol days .........