Rebranding The Sporting News
(St. Louis, MO) – One of my all-time favorite sports magazines and logos are both from ‘The Sporting News’. Known as the ‘baseball Bible’ and the authoritative sports voice for decades, it has undergone big changes, losses and gains and now it is rebranding.
Long-time TSN employee, writer, editor and spokesman Bob Hille is back with the company and is helping lead the rebranding efforts and also holding on to the magazine’s legacy. The Sporting News website is going through a needed remodel and rebranding.
Hille, the ‘Senior Editorial Consultant’ is one of the veteran voices and a carrier of the TSN torch. He and Mike DeCourcy, Ryan Fagan, Vinnie Iyer and others are organization stalwarts and now they are being handed a better platform to display their masterful writing.
Hille joined me for a full length podcast.
Rebranding The Sporting News
The Sporting News, established in 1886 was headquartered here in St. Louis for generations and Hille moved with the company when it relocated to North Carolina. His roles have changed over the nearly three decades he has been employed. Nostalgia isn’t the only reason to be excited about the rebranding.
The company is attempting to both cover the current sports world, but also to look back at their historic content and bring it into current times. Understanding the past can help us appreciate and learn from it.
Hille explains.
The long-term connection many feel to The Sporting News is generated by a legitimate camaraderie felt by the staff and the types of writers that long-term Editor-in-Chief, John Rawlings hired and mentored. Hille says well known national ‘voices’ and writers genuinely enjoyed working with one another.
Hille admits not all of The Sporting News ‘history’ is positive. As times have changed and research done, the staff realized some things had to change. Based on their own company history, adjustments needed to be made to the name of an annual award. There were distasteful parts of their own past that needed correction.
Rebranding The Sporting News – Going Forward
The Sporting News is moving more international. The first roll-out of the rebranding of The Sporting News is already underway in other nations. Hille says TSN will be the prime web presence for the NBA in some foreign nations and that they are very involved in cricket and soccer.
While the Australian version is live now, other nations are coming on board at a rapid pace.
The rebranding of The Sporting News is a microcosm of all that is going on in sports media. Website coverage is only a small part of how fans consume their sports content. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, streaming platforms, Instagram, etc. all play a role and it demands that media companies like The Sporting News stay nimble.
During these changing times, Hille believes sports reporting is more exciting than ever.
Rebranding The Sporting News has been needed and we at ValleyHoopsInsider.com wish them the greatest of successes. Hille, DeCourcy, Fagan and others are true professionals who do their jobs with class and respect.
Our entire interview can be seen on YouTube or listened to at Valley Hoops Insider Podcast.
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