|
|
to its roots in hunting and fishing
Out go the backpacks and other gentle boy-toys
By Jeff Bercovici
At the age of 113, Sports Afield is awfully old to be making the long haul from New York to Los Angeles.
But new owner Robert Petersen and newly-appointed president Ken Elliot hope they can breathe new life into the venerable title, which Peterson recently acquired from Hearst. The first step of their plan entails packing operations up and trundling them across the continent.
The second step will be to return the magazine to its roots.
"Sports Afield was the original, best, and most prestigious hunting and fishing magazine," says Elliot, now president of Bismuth Cartridge Co. and former head of Guns & Ammo magazine. "That’s its claim to fame, and that’s where we think its strengths lie."
In recent years, the title has deviated from its origins as a magazine for guys who like to kill their food, having mutated into more of a general outdoor sports magazine covering gentler pursuits such as backpacking, kayaking, and mountain biking.
But starting with the June issue, Petersen and Elliot are taking the title back to the hooks and bullets format of yore.
It may prove a tough march back.
In doing so, they’ll be going head to head against Outdoor Life and Field & Stream. Both are much larger than Sports Afield; Field & Stream has a circulation of 1.9 million, and Outdoor Life of 1.4 million, compared to Sports Afield’s 450,000.
But Elliot chooses to see his title's smaller size as a potential advantage. It will offer a more inexpensive alternative to advertisers that don’t want to pay Field & Stream and Outdoor Life’s rates, he says. He'll be able to offer the lower prices because of his lower costs.
Though Elliot agrees the hunting/fishing community may not be underserved by the current offerings, with 70 million fishermen and 20 million hunters in the U.S., he feels there are certainly enough readers to support a third title.
Key to Sports Afield’s approach is the idea of class.
"We plan to make Sports Afield the stylish hunting and fishing book, with better graphics, and the best writing we can get," he says.
Sports Afield’s biggest advertisers are automakers and tobacco companies, including R.J. Reynolds and Phillip Morris. Elliot hopes to continue their business through the relaunch, even as the magazine solicits new advertising from hunting and fishing equipment retailers and other sources.
That will be the task of the new publisher, the search for whom is under way. Petersen and Elliot are also seeking an editor-in-chief, and they hope to announce appointments for both positions within the month.
Previous editor John Atwood has taken a job with a new media venture rather than follow the magazine to California.
While the restaffing takes place, Elliot is working with the existing staff at Hearst to bring about a smooth transition in time for the June relaunch, which will be a "summer issue."
The magazine is currently at a 10-times-a-year frequency, but Elliot says he'd like to up it to monthly, "since I have to pay my staff every month."
For Petersen, buying Sports Afield is a two-fold venture. Before selling Peterson Publishing in 1996, his stable held several outdoor titles, including Guns & Ammo, Petersen’s Hunting and Outdoors Women.
But in addition to a business venture, there's a strong personal interest.
"Hunting and fishing is Mr. Petersen’s avocation, as it is mine," says Elliot. "This will give us a chance to get our avocation and our vocation all confused."
-Jeff Bercovici is a staff writer for Media Life.