AJC.com Halts Paid Sports Service

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is pulling its team from the paid-sports field. Acording to a note on AJC sportsPlus, as of Aug. 16 it no longer will be a stand-alone site and subs will get a pro-rated check covering the remainder of their subscriptions. A revamped ajc.com/sports “will incorporate the best features” of the former sub-only site and the ad-supported site.
Sports subcriptions have worked for some other papers, notably the Packer Insider at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, but Atlanta teams simply don’t have the kind of fanatacism on a big scale or the dispersed passionate fan base needed to support efforts like this. Remember, this is a town where seats are empty when the Braves are in the playoffs. Also, I wonder if by putting some of its best content behind a pay wall, the AJC sports coverage started to become less relevant a la the ill-fated LA Times Calendar effort and sent readers elsewhere. (via Steve Yelvington, Poynter)
Update: From my brother, Billy Kramer, the publisher of high school-oriented GASports.com and magazine (his refusal to subscribe was my first sign it might not last): “You mean charging people who already subscribe to or buy the paper additional money for useless content that should be available in the paper wasn’t a good move?”

Comments have been disabled for this post