I won't bury the lede, and I won't candy-coat it: We're ceasing our Penn State coverage, effective immediately.
And while I know there's nothing I can say that'll keep alumni and fans from being angry, I hope everyone will at least hear out, in bullet form, the reasoning for this decision, which wasn't rash and which definitely wasn't made lightly:
• Has zero to do with spending or budget, since we're at standard staff size with one more pending full-time hire. Has almost everything to do with wanting to streamline and simplify what we do, a wish I'd first shared in this space several months ago in describing ways Dali and I hoped to invest less time and energy in things that don't make money -- colleges don't, across the board -- and more in things that do.
• Repeating for emphasis: No colleges make money for us, and that includes the two, Pitt and Duquesne, that we'll continue to cover. But Pitt and Duquesne, quite obviously are right here. So we can easily cover games, practices, availabilities and all that and, if we do those well, not allow for such a chasm between what we do on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and everything else. It'll be a similar approach taken, actually. This puts me more at peace with the quality of the overall product.
• When this venture was launched, and I was the entire editorial staff, the boundary set was our city limits. That way, I'd include the big three, plus Pitt, plus Duquesne, plus the Riverhounds. This is going back to our foundation. Pittsburgh sports. Everything's right here. Everyone's available to cover anything that comes up.
• We're trying hard, as I've mentioned here recently, to have a more flexible full-time staff that's capable of filling needs as they arise. Tiny example: After the Pirates' big W last night over the Mets, I added Greg Macafee to be a second reporter for the Monday series finale, just in case it becomes significant. He and José Negron will cover that while I travel to Milwaukee. I can't do that if we've committed personnel and payroll to a faraway beat.
• I could cite about a billion numbers to support this, but there's no need for that or for any comparisons. Again, colleges are a money-loser for us. This is Pittsburgh. The interest just isn't there. And if it wasn't sufficient even when Kenny Pickett and the Panthers won the ACC title, then it won't be that for a very long time, if ever. That said, we cover the colleges -- very much against Dali's wishes, I might add -- because I feel there's enough crossover with those who read our Steelers, Penguins and/or Pirates coverage. Oh, and don't bring the Riverhounds into this. We're covering them in a way that's 100% risk-free for us. That's not the case for the colleges.
• One reason for the low numbers on colleges, but particularly Penn State and West Virginia back when we covered the latter, is that both schools have so, so, so many outlets already covering them. And I'm not going out on a limb here in guessing that the more diehard Penn State fans on our site were finding their news on the Nittany Lions elsewhere before checking out what we had. Massive factor here. Whereas that's not how it is with either Pitt or Duquesne, both of whom struggle to get media attention in our city.
I'll be in comments, as ever.
ANNIVERSARY DATE: JULY 23
Yet another reminder that everyone's more than invited to our company's 10th anniversary, July 23, at our HQ/shop, 224 Fifth Avenue, Downtown, ranging from noon to some undetermined point past 6 p.m.
• There'll be light refreshments 'n' at.
• We've made and received T-shirts of our anniversary logo, so those will be available pretty much at cost. Those'll be available online, as well, for anyone who can't make it.
• There'll be other goodies galore. That means giveaways and, yeah, that'll include that one extra shipment of 3XL Kenny Pickett T-shirts this idiot ordered right before the trade.
• We have no idea how many to expect or when, since it's a daylong thing, but we'll have the sidewalk out on Fifth Avenue if a spillover area's needed. We'll be fine.
Plan ahead!
INSIDE THE WORKS
• We're short-handed for a while until Chris Halicke completes his move from Texas over the next couple weeks, and there are times it'll show. All I can promise: We're pushing like crazy to be back to firing on all cylinders by the start of the Steelers' training camp.
• If the baseball team ever gets on any kind of roll, meaning more than just one glorious night of grand slams, we'll be moving more staff onto that beat. That'll include me, same as when the Penguins embarked on their ill-fated playoff surge and I bounced all over the continent for a month. As it is, I'll take the trip to Milwaukee in the coming week, as ever.
• Don't bring up Winnipeg. Just don't. Still too raw.
• We've asked for two new Feeds, one of them for Hot Button. We're told it's not simple, but we've asked.
• Everyone loving being ad-free? If you're not there yet, it's only for paying subscribers. If you aren't subscribed yet or if your subscription's expired: This is our subscribe page. From there, make sure you're logged in, tap on the link, and thumb down to the bottom for the SUBSCRIBE button to buy/renew at the monthly or annual level. We also offer discounts, as ever, for student subscriptions and senior subscriptions.
• Grateful that so many of you continue to leave us good reviews on outside platforms. For anyone who hasn't yet, feel free to add your own on our Google listing, our Apple or Spotify podcast channels, our YouTube channels for the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates and, last but not least, our own app, whether it's the Apple or Android version. And again, thank you!
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page-view numbers for the past week were 957,574, with 64,246 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, June 28-July 4. And although our most-read original piece was my Paul Skenes column from Atlanta, it was Taylor Haase's extraordinary coverage of the NHL Draft from Las Vegas, with 139,541 visits to our Penguins Feed, that dominated the week. In all, she brought in 369,645 page views on hockey coverage, including all her various articles. Tremendous.
• On the multimedia front, our podcast downloads for the past week were 73,413, and our YouTube video views were 79,700.
• Our company social media accounts are at 54,204 followers on X, 40,611 on Facebook, 31,620 on YouTube, 14,946 on Instagram ... and already 4,710 on the new Threads!
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• We're often asked about our HQ/shop merch being available online, and yes, it's right here. The Downtown shop itself's open Tuesday-Saturday, 12-6 p.m.
• Anything you need, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Thanks for reading and, as ever, for your support of this venture.
