The business of blogging

by James Mirtle on Oct 27, 2008 9:15 PM CDT Comment 11 comments

SportsBusiness Journal put together a story today on SB Nation, something that focuses on a look into the company's business and financial model. It's interesting stuff, albeit a bit of inside baseball.

When I started in hockey blogging in 2004, there was no business model. There were very few blogs at all and it was a cozy community of independent sites like Eric McErlain's Off Wing Opinion and Sharkspage. Outside investment was nonexistent.

Things are a bit different these days.

There has been a ton of interest in my move since I announced it last week, with many, many bloggers expressing interest in joining the network and that's incredibly flattering. SBN Hockey is going to be a big deal and is really, at this point, just in its infancy.

The audience for hockey blogs has gotten big enough that companies are willing to invest in it, and that's going to ultimately mean good things for the blogosphere.

Stay tuned.

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Don’t you mean “tonne” of interest? Are you really Canadian, James?

by J.P. on Oct 28, 2008 5:43 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

There might also be a ‘u’ in there somewhere…

Follow the Penguins on SBN @ Pensburgh.com

by FrankD on Oct 28, 2008 6:33 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I believe we only use tonne to indicated something that weighs 1,000 kilograms. Phrases like “ton of fun” are spelt like so, as you can see in The Globe’s archives.

by James Mirtle on Oct 28, 2008 8:20 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Gotcha – that clears things up a tonne.

by J.P. on Oct 28, 2008 9:11 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Really?

Hmmm I like to keep everything Canadian so I use tonnes everywhere I can when I go aboot the internets.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 28, 2008 9:14 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well it does provide insight into your nickname; “Tonnes of Fun”.

Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.

by Chemmy on Oct 28, 2008 9:42 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Don’t be mad because after naming me the ladies decided to call you “Ounces of Fun”

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Oct 28, 2008 1:22 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Happily, a ton of fun and a tonne of fun have almost the same mass, so little enjoyment is lost in the spelling.

Adam C was taken

by Back In Black on Oct 28, 2008 9:27 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

a fan of:

Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa

This confuses and enrages me. Are you actually a fan of three teams in the same division? What do you do 24 18 nights a year when two of those teams play each other?

Pension Plan Puppets*
* Blog contains less than 2% puppet content by weight.

by Chemmy on Oct 28, 2008 9:44 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It does get confusing. I explain it this way:

During my formative hockey years, I had influential family members who were big Habs fans. At the time, the Leafs and Habs played in two different leagues. The Leafs scrapped it out with crappy Norris division teams. They were on TV all the time, and every win was a big one (there weren’t that many).

Montreal played in the Adams division, where (like the Smythe) the goal was winning the Stanley Cup. They were on TV all the time during the playoffs and every win was, obviously, a big one.

So I could cheer for both teams; they weren’t really in competition, and the three nights a year when they played each other, I could cheer for the Leafs because they needed it more.

In the 90s, though, players started moving around a lot more, and team loyalties became more difficult for me. I found myself cheering for Colorado in the playoffs because I was used to cheering for Roy, Lemieux and Keane. Also, fantasy hockey implications started to insidiously creep into my rooting interests…

So now I just cheer for players and styles of play that I like (Ottawa and Alfredsson), as well as my first two. 18 times a year I have to pick – I was one of the few not terribly excited about Toronto moving to the East – but you’ll be relieved to hear that most years I pick the Leafs. I guess you get most attached to the players you watch most often…

I've been looking at the sky

by Back In Black on Oct 28, 2008 10:57 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs