Star Tribune To Try Charging For Online Sports — Again

Access Vikings StarTrib sports site

The Minneapolis Star Tribune is getting ready to charge for access to some of its dedicated Minnesota Vikings site, Access Vikings, as more newspaper sites are gently trying to introduce more paid content to their mix. MinnPost’s David Brauer spoke to newspaper editors who were there for the last attempt back in 2002; they try to explain what’s different this time out.

The decision comes as many newspaper sites get more serious about charging readers for some content. At this point, sports team coverage seems like the safest place to experiment. Last month, Alabama’s Tuscaloosa News created a subscription-based offshoot of its free sports news site called TideSportsExtra.

Pricing for premium Access Vikings access hasn’t been set yet, though Terry Sauer, the assistant managing editor for digital, tells Brauer that the monthly subscription set to start in a few weeks will cost about the same as a cup of coffee. The last time the paper tried to charge for access to another Vikings-centric site, “Purple Plus,” only 1,000 readers paid the annual $30 to sign up. The reason for the lack of interest was blamed on the mostly lousy 2002 season for the Vikings. But despite how the team does this year, the confidence to charge this year is based on what Ben Welter, the current copy chief and former website head, says is the greater integration of the online staff and sports reporters. He also senses that readers might be more aware of newspapers’ need to charge for more coverage, though that last bit sounds more like wishful thinking. Still, as more newspapers introduce some small paywalls, there’s a chance that users might get more used to paying — especially if the Vikings show more promise this year than than they did in 2002.

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