As much as we pour into covering the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, we're reminded regularly -- and often vocally -- that there are other teams, colleges and sports across Western Pennsylvania that are of interest to our readers.
The obvious counter: How to cover them without, you know, going belly-up?
We could be all over everything. We could go everywhere, for example, with Duquesne basketball or the Riverhounds, full travel, the whole deal. But we've been at this long enough to know what makes money and what loses money for our overall operation. Even now, anything we cover that isn't Steelers, Penguins and Pirates loses. Yes, even Pitt athletics. (Though it's not a big loss.) And at the time we eliminated Penn State, it was losing roughly $20,000 a year for us. (That's a big loss.)
Now, that said, we've got readers who are passionate about college, minor leagues and other material rooted in our region, and I don't ever stop thinking of ways to maybe make something happen on that front that'd offer visitors to our app/site a one-stop shop for news and discussion.
Well, I might have that something.
As I broached in a brief survey here yesterday, we're looking hard on creating a separate class of feeds that'd simply collect the actual press releases from various institutions. And rather than rewriting them, as is common practice in the industry, you'd see them untouched and visibly labeled as being what they are. In almost every case, they're thorough, they're reported from the scene, they include quotes and information that can't be had without being there ... and we currently get all of these anyway. We just don't do anything with them.
They'd be presented in the feed format, which, of course, will allow for your comments, both attached to the entries and in a general forum.
Costs you nothing. Costs us next to nothing. Adds, ideally, at least a little to the experience for everyone, once we have it in place, which shouldn't take too long.
Happy to take questions in comments.
INSIDE THE WORKS
• No newspapers are covering the Penguins' ongoing seven-game trip beyond the opening two legs in Buffalo, N.Y., and Washington. We're there for all of it, of course. Taylor Haase is in Seattle now, and I'll fly out to Salt Lake City for the finale.
• Chris Halicke will fly out Monday for Mobile, Ala., for a week at the Senior Bowl and original reporting aimed at the Steelers' potential prospects for the NFL Draft.
• Greg Macafee and José Negron will tag-team the Pirates' spring training in Bradenton, Fla. Anthony Murphy, our correspondent on prospects, will spend a week. I'll be down there at some point, too.
• To refresh the live game file on the app, just tug downward. We'll also be restoring a refresh button to those files at the first opportunity. It'll actually be present for the feed as a whole. It's behind a bunch else on the list, though.
• Not getting our app alerts? Happened to us, too, with the recent update. But there's a way to get them back: Go to your Profile (top left corner), thumb down to Devices, tap Manage, thumb down to Having Issues With Notifications, then tap Request Permissions. It's not as complicated as it sounds, and that should get them going again.
• Yeah, Rob Ullman's alive. He had shoulder surgery on his drawing arm. Back soon.
• 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 mega-discounts, as ever, for student subscriptions and senior subscriptions.
• Grateful that so many are leaving us good reviews on other platforms. Feel free to add your own on our Google business listing, our Appleand Spotify podcast channels and, arguably most important, our own app, whether it's the Apple or Android version.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page-view numbers for the past week were 792,267, with 29,042 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, Jan. 17-23. Our most-read original piece, which we can now track again, was Chris'Friday Insider at 14,227.
• On the multimedia front, our video views for the past week were an all-time record 142,982, and our podcast downloads were 84,264.
• Thanks for reading and, as ever, for your support of this proud independent venture.
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THE ASYLUM
Dejan Kovacevic
3:37 am - 01.25.2025DowntownSite Stuff: A sort-of expansion
As much as we pour into covering the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, we're reminded regularly -- and often vocally -- that there are other teams, colleges and sports across Western Pennsylvania that are of interest to our readers.
The obvious counter: How to cover them without, you know, going belly-up?
We could be all over everything. We could go everywhere, for example, with Duquesne basketball or the Riverhounds, full travel, the whole deal. But we've been at this long enough to know what makes money and what loses money for our overall operation. Even now, anything we cover that isn't Steelers, Penguins and Pirates loses. Yes, even Pitt athletics. (Though it's not a big loss.) And at the time we eliminated Penn State, it was losing roughly $20,000 a year for us. (That's a big loss.)
Now, that said, we've got readers who are passionate about college, minor leagues and other material rooted in our region, and I don't ever stop thinking of ways to maybe make something happen on that front that'd offer visitors to our app/site a one-stop shop for news and discussion.
Well, I might have that something.
As I broached in a brief survey here yesterday, we're looking hard on creating a separate class of feeds that'd simply collect the actual press releases from various institutions. And rather than rewriting them, as is common practice in the industry, you'd see them untouched and visibly labeled as being what they are. In almost every case, they're thorough, they're reported from the scene, they include quotes and information that can't be had without being there ... and we currently get all of these anyway. We just don't do anything with them.
They'd be presented in the feed format, which, of course, will allow for your comments, both attached to the entries and in a general forum.
Costs you nothing. Costs us next to nothing. Adds, ideally, at least a little to the experience for everyone, once we have it in place, which shouldn't take too long.
Happy to take questions in comments.
INSIDE THE WORKS
• No newspapers are covering the Penguins' ongoing seven-game trip beyond the opening two legs in Buffalo, N.Y., and Washington. We're there for all of it, of course. Taylor Haase is in Seattle now, and I'll fly out to Salt Lake City for the finale.
• Chris Halicke will fly out Monday for Mobile, Ala., for a week at the Senior Bowl and original reporting aimed at the Steelers' potential prospects for the NFL Draft.
• Greg Macafee and José Negron will tag-team the Pirates' spring training in Bradenton, Fla. Anthony Murphy, our correspondent on prospects, will spend a week. I'll be down there at some point, too.
• To refresh the live game file on the app, just tug downward. We'll also be restoring a refresh button to those files at the first opportunity. It'll actually be present for the feed as a whole. It's behind a bunch else on the list, though.
• Not getting our app alerts? Happened to us, too, with the recent update. But there's a way to get them back: Go to your Profile (top left corner), thumb down to Devices, tap Manage, thumb down to Having Issues With Notifications, then tap Request Permissions. It's not as complicated as it sounds, and that should get them going again.
• Yeah, Rob Ullman's alive. He had shoulder surgery on his drawing arm. Back soon.
• 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 mega-discounts, as ever, for student subscriptions and senior subscriptions.
• Grateful that so many are leaving us good reviews on other platforms. Feel free to add your own on our Google business listing, our Apple and Spotify podcast channels and, arguably most important, our own app, whether it's the Apple or Android version.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page-view numbers for the past week were 792,267, with 29,042 unique users over the most recent full seven-day span, Jan. 17-23. Our most-read original piece, which we can now track again, was Chris' Friday Insider at 14,227.
• On the multimedia front, our video views for the past week were an all-time record 142,982, and our podcast downloads were 84,264.
• Our company social media: 58,118 on Facebook, 57,661 followers on X, 36,441 on YouTube, 16,240 on Instagram, 5,735 on Threads, 4,265 on TikTok, 2,104 on Bluesky!
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• The Downtown HQ/shop's open Tuesday-Saturday, 12-6 p.m., and our company merch can all be had in our online store.
• Anything you need, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
• Thanks for reading and, as ever, for your support of this proud independent venture.
Want to participate in our comments?
Want an ad-free experience?
Become a member, and enjoy premium benefits! Make your voice heard on the Steelers, Penguins and Pirates, and hear right back from tens of thousands of fellow Pittsburgh sports fans worldwide! Plus, access all our premium content, including Dejan Kovacevic columns, Friday Insider, daily Live Qs with the staff, more! And yeah, that's right, no ads at all!
We’d love to have you!