Changes In An Industry

My February issue of Sports Illustrated arrived in the mail last week.

Let that sink in for a moment. My FEBRUARY issue...

Yes, like so many other publications faced with changing dynamics and the Internet providing nearly instantaneous information, Sports Illustrated is adapting. What launched as a weekly magazine in August, 1954 (Eddie Matthews of the Milwaukee Braves at the plate, with old County Stadium in the background), the publication will now go to 16 issues a year.

This, after shifting to a bi-weekly at the start of 2019. Those 2020 16 issues will also include a stand-alone (the notorious swimsuit edition -- which first appeared IN the magazine in 1964), plus football, the NBA, baseball and the Olympics.

I understand the changes. Many magazines have simply ceased publication, switched formats (hell, Entertainment Weekly has gone monthly but stubbornly keeps "weekly" in it's masthead) or gone totally electronic. Reading habits have changed -- even the venerable (or nefarious) Playboy Magazine (also begin in 1954) has switched from a monthly to a quarterly schedule.

As a young man growing up in rural Central Wisconsin, I eagerly awaited each issue of Sports Illustrated. It opened up a whole new sports world, bringing to my door national and international events and people that I didn't see in the daily paper we got (via the mail, always a day behind). The writing was always first-rate, and continues to be, while the photography was outstanding.

Here's hoping their new efforts are successful.