Compared to the newspaper industry, the NHL looks like Google now. :-) Our sales, revenues, ratings, renewals, merchandise sales, sponsorship sales and franchise values are all up. Some areas of growth are in double digits year over year. We expect growth to continue for the foreseeable future.
The newspaper industry continues to struggle with no end in sight. If you can believe it by these numbers, the Washington Post is actually the best of class, best management and best positioned to grow in other areas of media and software. We are blessed to have a great franchise like the Post in this community. They have done a great job in diversifying but the systemic issues facing the news print industry is becoming terrifying and one has to start to wonder how this movie will end?
it will be a sad day if the post ever loses its prestige and preeminence in the pantheon of journalistic greats. i have fond memories of reading about many of the country’s defining moments in those noble pages. the problem with print news is not just that it is in an outdated media – it is the homogenization and atrophy of investigative journalism in the face of a growing conservative populace. it is the rise of rupert murdoch, fox and other biased organs that vitiate the strength of truly independent media. it is also evident in overall reading habits – the “dumbing down” of america – and the suspicion many hold for “intellectuals.” when the president of the country eschews reading – when our congress can’t be bothered to read the laws upon which they vote…these are messages that reinforce a tv/video or passive way of learning. but that’s just my two cents.
The first thing they need to do is to fire Mike Wise, or at least take him off reporting hockey. That article he wrote in the playoffs was insulting and embarassing to Caps fans!
Hey Ted, I know this is a random place for this request, but if it is possible, can you publish to the fans some of the numbers regarding season ticket sales. I myself and many other I know have made the jump to full STH, and I am just curios and hopefull as to what the numbers are looking like.
I remember reading the one incredibly optomistic article about selling all the tickets before opening night, but seriously, are you able to let the fans know what % of tickets have already been sold? I am just insanely cursion and like to follow these sorts of things as I am sure you do. Thanks
I suspect like some others I’m a dinosaur but even if the long steady decline of print media continues, I believe it will continue for a long time. Long enough for well run businesses like the Washington Post to adapt just as Fisher Coachworks adapted and became Fisher Bodyworks before morphing into it’s current state. So even as the “buggy whip manufacturers” of today face issues and challenges, if they are run by astute management, they have capabilities and resources that those managers can use to morph and adapt them into competative enterprises.
I bet they dump bloated veteran payroll and costs, get lean, and rebuild for three to five years around youthful new talent, pump up the marketing and work their way to a more effective business model. Somebody else has done it DC, should work for them too.
Well if they would have more than half a page dedicated to hockey in their Sports section…