Gray Avenger
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Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
Athlon sports publishes magazines for the ACC, BIG, PAC12, Big XII and SEC, while AAC teams receive only token coverage in the back pages, further cementing our conference's 2nd-class status in the public mind and seriously hurting recruiting and support. Please join me in an e-mail campaign urging AAC leadership to persuade/pressure Athlon into publishing AAC issues. If necessary, the AAC should even offer to temporarily help fund the issue for a couple of years during a trial phase. If Athlon STILL refuses, another publisher should be found. One way or another AAC magazines must appear on magazine racks in grocery stores, WalMarts, drugstores, etc. Here is a way to use some of that conference war chest to help five the AAC a "power conference" image.
I remember quite a few of you being (rightfully) upset last year when ESPN dropped the AAC from their Internet blog. This situation is far more damaging. It CAN be corrected and MUST be if the AAC is going to truly separate from the "G5".
Mike Aresco Commissioner commissioner@theamerican.org
Donna DeMarco Senior Associate Commissioner (Administration) ddemarco@theamerican.org
(This post was last modified: 06-20-2014 09:26 AM by Gray Avenger.)
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06-20-2014 09:24 AM |
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NBPirate
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
How many people honestly still read sports magazines? I can tell you that I bet less than 3% of recruits do.
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06-20-2014 09:25 AM |
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mlb
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
Athlon Sports is a private company and if they thought they could make money by publishing AAC only magazines, they would.
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06-20-2014 09:26 AM |
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ECUPirated
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
Athlon deals in both publishing and sports marketing. Why don't the conference simply pay Athlon some amount to publish an AAC magazine in order to market the conference? I can see Athlon not wanting to do it on its own if there is no money to made via sales, but they have nothing to lose if they're being paid to produce the magazine as a marketing strategy.
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06-20-2014 09:32 AM |
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mlb
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
(06-20-2014 09:32 AM)ECUPirated Wrote: Athlon deals in both publishing and sports marketing. Why don't the conference simply pay Athlon some amount to publish an AAC magazine in order to market the conference? I can see Athlon not wanting to do it on its own if there is no money to made via sales, but they have nothing to lose if they're being paid to produce the magazine as a marketing strategy.
It was already touched on... not that many people care about these magazines. The conference would be better served to spend its marketing money on TV commercials than crappy, terribly researched magazines.
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06-20-2014 09:45 AM |
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pesik
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
no one honestly still reads magazines...definitely not recruits
them lowballing us is irrelevant..
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06-20-2014 09:48 AM |
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Gray Avenger
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
(06-20-2014 09:48 AM)pesik Wrote: no one honestly still reads magazines...definitely not recruits
them lowballing us is irrelevant..
What evidence do you have of this assertion? SOMEBODY is buying the magazines (or they would not still be published) and I'll bet for every one that is sold, there are many more that are thumbed thru by college fans. Probably not many are bought by recruits, but I'll wager that many of them are SEEN by them, as well as potential ticket buyers. Moreover, it is intuitively obvious that the public's seeing Athlon's "P5" issues on the racks every year while never seeing an AAC issue has a detrimental subliminal effect. The AAC should at least have the matter looked into by marketing consultants instead of simply discounting it as you have done. Our conference is in no position to overlook anything.
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06-20-2014 10:14 AM |
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pesik
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
(06-20-2014 10:14 AM)Gray Avenger Wrote: (06-20-2014 09:48 AM)pesik Wrote: no one honestly still reads magazines...definitely not recruits
them lowballing us is irrelevant..
What evidence do you have of this assertion? SOMEBODY is buying the magazines (or they would not still be published) and I'll bet for every one that is sold, there are many more that are thumbed thru by college fans. Probably not many are bought by recruits, but I'll wager that many of them are SEEN by them, as well as potential ticket buyers. Moreover, it is intuitively obvious that the public's seeing Athlon's "P5" issues on the racks every year while never seeing an AAC issue has a detrimental subliminal effect. The AAC should at least have the matter looked into by marketing consultants instead of simply discounting it as you have done. Our conference is in no position to overlook anything.
im sure there are readers but i doubt its of any significance, most are likely avid college football fans who already know know hat is what...
athlon was not a fan of us last year either but we ended up fine..(the said the MWC was better)
if this was ESPN the magazine of something maybe id say we cause an uproar. but its athlon sports..
as seen by their ranking they dont think much of us. athlon doesnt affect perception at all, its a preview magazine to keep avid college sports fans busy in the offseason and most just read about their team and dont look for where what is what.
the difference we can make is showing up to our football games (so we have sellouts, filled stadiums) and winning on the field. that is where the perception battle will be won or lost
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06-20-2014 10:29 AM |
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Kandy Atz
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
Interactive media is the future. Make sure that is top notch and readily available. Magazines are outdated before they even go to the printer. And besides, if I want to read a regurgitated press release that is two months old, I can simply visit the archives on SMU's team site.
I stopped buying Athlon's 15 years ago, Texas Football, which is far better in this region, 10 years ago. Phil Steele is about the only printed rag I will buy these days, and even that has far less appeal in the age of twitter and message boards.
If there is demand, it will get published. Unless they have greatly improved their production staff, analysts, and writers, I doubt they could ever put out anything that would get any money from my pocket. Although I might thumb through it at checkout for a laugh. If they want to survive, they need to take their product online and get serious about new media.
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06-20-2014 10:32 AM |
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ECUGrad07
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
I buy almost every preseason college football magazine.
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06-20-2014 10:49 AM |
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CyberBull
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
(06-20-2014 09:24 AM)Gray Avenger Wrote: Athlon sports publishes magazines for the ACC, BIG, PAC12, Big XII and SEC, while AAC teams receive only token coverage in the back pages, further cementing our conference's 2nd-class status in the public mind and seriously hurting recruiting and support. Please join me in an e-mail campaign urging AAC leadership to persuade/pressure Athlon into publishing AAC issues. If necessary, the AAC should even offer to temporarily help fund the issue for a couple of years during a trial phase. If Athlon STILL refuses, another publisher should be found. One way or another AAC magazines must appear on magazine racks in grocery stores, WalMarts, drugstores, etc. Here is a way to use some of that conference war chest to help five the AAC a "power conference" image.
I remember quite a few of you being (rightfully) upset last year when ESPN dropped the AAC from their Internet blog. This situation is far more damaging. It CAN be corrected and MUST be if the AAC is going to truly separate from the "G5".
Mike Aresco Commissioner commissioner@theamerican.org
Donna DeMarco Senior Associate Commissioner (Administration) ddemarco@theamerican.org
"....another publisher should be found"
That makes no sense.
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06-20-2014 10:55 AM |
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IceJus10
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
I think I saw it once many many years ago -- got pissed off at Big East coverage of 'Cuse and vowed to never read that trash again.
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06-20-2014 10:56 AM |
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CyberBull
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
(06-20-2014 10:14 AM)Gray Avenger Wrote: (06-20-2014 09:48 AM)pesik Wrote: no one honestly still reads magazines...definitely not recruits
them lowballing us is irrelevant..
What evidence do you have of this assertion? SOMEBODY is buying the magazines (or they would not still be published) and I'll bet for every one that is sold, there are many more that are thumbed thru by college fans. Probably not many are bought by recruits, but I'll wager that many of them are SEEN by them, as well as potential ticket buyers. Moreover, it is intuitively obvious that the public's seeing Athlon's "P5" issues on the racks every year while never seeing an AAC issue has a detrimental subliminal effect. The AAC should at least have the matter looked into by marketing consultants instead of simply discounting it as you have done. Our conference is in no position to overlook anything.
You are overestimating the impact or reach of Athlon or any magazine. The BigEast had coverage in every magazine and that didn't help the perception problem that it wasn't one of the "big boys". Honestly, I would be concerned if AAC admins were spending energy on stuff like this instead of working on more critical league wide issues....b/c Lord knows we have many.
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06-20-2014 10:59 AM |
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CyberBull
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
(06-20-2014 10:56 AM)IceJus10 Wrote: I think I saw it once many many years ago -- got pissed off at Big East coverage of 'Cuse and vowed to never read that trash again.
The only pre-season magainze I buy is Phil Steele's b/c it's chock full of statistics, historical data and roster information.
His analysis is data driven and usually right on the money most of the time, except for almost yearly prediction for my Bulls to do big things. Sadly, we almost always let him down....
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06-20-2014 11:02 AM |
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Native Georgian
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
(06-20-2014 09:25 AM)NBPirate Wrote: How many people honestly still read sports magazines? I can tell you that I bet less than 3% of recruits do.
I think older (40+) fans still read them.
High-school kids, not so much.
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06-20-2014 11:24 AM |
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FrancisDrake
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
In the same vein the AAC should be investing in newer marketing and publicity machines. The magazine would be cool, but I do not believe it makes much impact going forward. Statistics show that students are less and less interested in attending games, how do we keep them coming? How do we reach them? What if we partner with Google or some other entity (twitter, facebook, instagram) to try new interactive game experiences? Use those same partners to reach fans, especially younger fans, the fans of tomorrow. We've got to be forward thinking, beat the "big boys" to something new that might help catapult our conference a bit.
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06-20-2014 11:38 AM |
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mlb
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
I'm 35 and have never read any of those magazines. I think they are a waste of paper as they know nothing.
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06-20-2014 01:28 PM |
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KnightLight
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
(06-20-2014 10:49 AM)ECUGrad07 Wrote: I buy almost every preseason college football magazine.
I use to about 15 years ago...but now, its almost stupid...as by the time those preseason mags get on the newstands...much of their info is already 2-3 months old...and much of their info is out-of-date.
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06-20-2014 02:01 PM |
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Tulsafanzz
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
I'm in my 50s & I used to buy at least one every summer. I haven't bought one in probably 10 years. I read everything on my I-phone or laptop now.
My 20 yr old son texts or e-mails me important Tulsa sports news as he finds it. I doubt he looks at any football magazines.
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06-20-2014 02:16 PM |
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john01992
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RE: Athlon Sports Is Damaging The AAC Far Worse Than The ESPN Blog
This is one of those threads that after reading, I think AAC fans need an intervention.
The Big East was considered a power conference but never because of its athletics. it grew out of an iconic BB conference that had tremendous name brand recognition/national exposure + football schools that had long been considered power programs going back 50-60 years.
even after 2003 it retained that status because they still had wvu/cuse/pitt who were part of the group that was responsible for the BEs reputation as a power conference in the first place.
the AAC will never be considered a 6th power conference in the same manner that the big east was because power conferences simply are not built on athletic success alone. the best case scenario for the AAC is to be a 1980s version of the WAC or a pre-FSU version of the ACC. a conference that is known nationally and can compete, but clearly in a 2nd tier.
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06-20-2014 02:40 PM |
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