Greg, some thoughts on the Magazine

Spyhunter · Post by **Spyhunter** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 7:34 am

Greg,

I hope this finds you well. I am sure you are busy, but I wanted to give some feedback on your magazine layout.

I have been reading 3-5 fantasy magazines for around 9-10 years. I have noticed the following:

I always go with Sporting News as my best reaasonable reference. They do a very nice job of rating allot of players, but they also do an excellent job of presenting their lists.

Look and feel are important. Some magazines look and feel cheap and seem to have very 'light' stories. I know that not everyone is an expert, but having a mix of deep insight and few light articles is good. I would study how Sporting News looks and feels because I think it always comes across well.

On the player detail pages, be sure to have 3 year histories of each player below the comments with projections for this year.

Here are some gaps that I have seen on many magazines:

Lists: Rarely do lists go beyond a top 100. that is just stupid even ESPN with 12 team leagues and 24 players goes deeper. I would do lists for the top 450 or atleast 400.

Also, I often see lists that only do one format 5x5 or 4x4. These are the top 2 formats for fantasy. I would put both lists out there for the full 450 names.

I would somehow note players who are 'very consistent' vs. streaky on the lists. WHY? Because I see allot of H2H players now and I haven't seen anything that helps those types of players get ahead.

The Cover! Just like my comment on look and feel, the higher quality the cover, the more newstand sales you will get. Before I knew anything about FB, I purused titles and chose by the cover because I didn't know the magazines...

Anyone else have thoughts on this topic?

Spyhunter

CC's Desperados · Post by **CC's Desperados** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 11:28 am

You can't be serious. Have you ever read one of their magazines? How much free time do you have?

A-They sell tons of issues. They sell more than one magazine. I'm sure Greg and Tom know what sells.

b-Why would you need 450 players listed? If you are playing in a High Stakes league, don't you make your own decisions. In most of these magazines, they can bearly come close to the top 60 picks.

c-Are you just looking for something to cross names off at the draft?

Walla Walla · Post by **Walla Walla** » Wed Nov 16, 2005 3:34 pm

Fantasy magazines are good for what they are. A quick look at the up coming season. Most of the off season moves and the pre-season moves happen after the magazines are printed. 450 player lists mean nothing that early. Greg and his gang know that as well as most fantasy players. My favorite changes year to year. But usually has alot of ads with nice lookng ladies in it.

Spyhunter · Post by **Spyhunter** » Thu Nov 17, 2005 4:53 am

Originally posted by CC's Desperados:

You can't be serious. Have you ever read one of their magazines? How much free time do you have?

A-They sell tons of issues. They sell more than one magazine. I'm sure Greg and Tom know what sells.

b-Why would you need 450 players listed? If you are playing in a High Stakes league, don't you make your own decisions. In most of these magazines, they can bearly come close to the top 60 picks.

c-Are you just looking for something to cross names off at the draft? CC,

a) I am just giving feedback on what I see are deficiencies. I have zero idea of the total distribution of Greg's magazines vs. Sporting News, but I would bet a TON that Sporting News outsells them. It got all Greg/Tom's magazines sent to me when I participated in the NFBC this year, and I thought they weren't as good as Sporting News. As a producer, wouldn't you want feedback from a customer who buys multiple magazines each year?

b/c) I think that many many leagues, not just NFBC go deep. Having deeper lists would be a competitive advantage for Greg/Tom! Many players are looking for multiple sources of deep info. Having a list is a nice way to double check your own analysis and understand why/why not you rate someone higher or lower.

Please note, ss a management consultant, any business that can't take good input from customers is doomed to fail. These suggestions are done in a very positive way, I want Greg/Tom to succeed wildly! I think what they are doing is fantastic and I want them to make more $$$ doing it!

Spy

[ November 17, 2005, 11:03 AM: Message edited by: Spyhunter ]