Changes are coming
- Updated: January 15, 2018
East Alabama Sports Today will be returning to its free-content model, but staff responsibilities will reduce its scale
By Al Muskewitz
East Alabama Sports Today
For the past three and a half years, East Alabama Sports Today has been driven to provide sports fans in and around Calhoun County high-quality and insightful coverage of their local sports teams. From the positive response we have received since its debut, the site continues to be quite popular.
But the business climate and other responsibilities have prompted the keeper of the keys to reassess the site’s place in the market.
The website you have enjoyed for the past 42 months, the one fans have told us they come to first for their local sports news, is not going away. It’s just changing a little.
The good news is EA Sports Today is returning to its original free content model. The change is the site will not be produced on the same scale.
“We are predominantly in transportation, but EA Sports Today has been a passion for us,” said Kenny Wright, publisher of Wright Media Corp., the website’s parent company. “This is a really good thing for the community and we want to keep it alive.”
But as Wright Media grows, my role with the company is changing. I have been tasked to take a more dominant role on the transportation side, which will limit my involvement producing EA Sports Today that has been 24/7 since its inception.
While that means the man in the big hat won’t be in stadiums and gyms on as regular a basis as before, the website remains committed to covering major events and posting results as they get reported. The writing should take on a more feature feel.
On the business side, the site will stop accepting paid subscriptions. While much of the content going forward will be available free of charge, some exclusive content will be available to our annual subscribers for the remainder of their terms.
One of the most popular elements of our football and basketball coverage — and one of many that set us apart from other local media — is the inclusion of full scoring summaries and box scores; those elements have allowed us to provide more inside-the-game reports rather than a rewrite of the stats. We hope to continue that practice and to ensure that we will be seeking the help from coaches, scorekeepers and correspondents to supplement our coverage more than ever. The only thing we can’t change, unfortunately – and it’s the enemy of all news gathering organizations – is time.
There is a lot the site has produced of which we are extremely proud and we have genuine appreciation for all the contributors, writers and photographers who have made it happen. We’re also appreciative of all you who have remained loyal readers; we hope you’ll continue.
As the website returns to the free model, it is seeking sponsors to keep it vibrant. Those interested in becoming a sponsor or offering editorial content for the site should contact Content Editor Al Muskewitz at musky@wrightmediacorp.com
You must be logged in to post a comment Login