Nigel Gone

[420seriouscat69]

 

[bones129]

This coaching staff is making sure guys want to be here.

 

[Kat Kid]

thanks for all you do SD.

[sys]

it really is a miraculous business model.

[wetwillie]

He's a better businessman than 99% of this board, myself included.  The riches are in the niches and he has exploited his about as effectively as possible.

[pissclams]

He's a better businessman than 99% of this board, myself included.  The riches are in the niches and he has exploited his about as effectively as possible.

lol

[Dub]

It's amazing what a townie and western model can do

[michigancat]

Fitz has made decent money on the place and probably still does. You guys can mock their coverage and writing and them as human beings for whatever reason and whatever else you guys do but on the business side of things he has a good thing going for him. If this was a for-profit thing for us I would like to have a similar arrangement. unfortunately I have to pound out thousands of elite level posts a year to even placate you guys enough to pay our server costs.

I've posted this before, but his subscribers don't care about scoops/breaking news, they care about their K-state centric viewpoint plus the rivals recruiting network. Honestly, no one touches them when it comes to the overall depth of coverage they provide on KSU sports, and that's why they're successful.

[kso_FAN]

Yeah, Fitz is BITB when it comes to K-State sports. There ware plenty of opportunities for someone to do something similar on the scout network, but all those failed miserably. Fitz built a sustainable service that has now lasted over 15 years.

[8manpick]

Wow, never would have guessed that this would turn into a fellate Fitz thread

[Sandstone Outcropping]

Wow, never would have guessed that this would turn into a fellate Fitz thread

[CNS]

Yeah, Fitz is BITB when it comes to K-State sports. There ware plenty of opportunities for someone to do something similar on the scout network, but all those failed miserably. Fitz built a sustainable service that has now lasted over 15 years.

KSU isn't big enough, and doesn't have the fanbase, to support two sites of that size.  you would have to steal customers.  Customers that are of the mindset that no matter what happens, when related to ksu,  you personally don't make a change, you ride it out.  Otherwise you are disloyal,  even though you are paying for something and not being given it for free.

Fitz is lucky with the timing and the demographic.   He is one step above a paper(I mean, he still publishes actual paper quarterly).  Don't get me wrong, he is def giving what is wanted, but let's not act like he is Steve Jobs or anything.

[Cire]

Didn't fitz basically steal customers?

[michigancat]

Yeah, Fitz is BITB when it comes to K-State sports. There ware plenty of opportunities for someone to do something similar on the scout network, but all those failed miserably. Fitz built a sustainable service that has now lasted over 15 years.

KSU isn't big enough, and doesn't have the fanbase, to support two sites of that size.  you would have to steal customers.  Customers that are of the mindset that no matter what happens, when related to ksu,  you personally don't make a change, you ride it out.  Otherwise you are disloyal,  even though you are paying for something and not being given it for free.

Fitz is lucky with the timing and the demographic.   He is one step above a paper(I mean, he still publishes actual paper quarterly).  Don't get me wrong, he is def giving what is wanted, but let's not act like he is Steve Jobs or anything.

he's just saying he's done a fine job building a sustainable business and I'm saying his customers don't care about breaking news, no one is comparing him to steve jobs, my goodness.

[wabash909]

Fitz's most sustainable business strategy has been to successfully manipulate most of his consumer base into believing that inside access and reporting actual news at K-State is an impossible challenge.  This also allows him to operate a website that doesn't place an emphasis on recruiting, while the Rivals' network is foundationally based on recruiting coverage.

His formula is to cycle through young intern level reporters like Brett Regan and a couple part time guys like Brian Gates and DJamer Wally for the bare minimum on the recruiting front.  And one senior guy on staff in D Scott to pound out the personal interest fluff pieces.  The reality is, that's good enough for most of his subscription base.

The fact that his business exists in a unique media space where there is essentially no competition all works to his advantage.  There simply isn't any competition that stems from the two major media markets.  The Star and Eagle are both nearly extinct and share a beat writer.  There is no Jeffrey Martin to embarrass him any longer.  Why should Fitz be anything more than lazy when he doesn't have to.

Dude has it on cruise control and is getting by just fine with the current model.

[scottwildcat]

Fitz is a good business man, anyone who argues that is an idiot.

[sys]

I've posted this before, but his subscribers don't care about scoops/breaking news, they care about their K-state centric viewpoint plus the rivals recruiting network. Honestly, no one touches them when it comes to the overall depth of coverage they provide on KSU sports, and that's why they're successful.

i don't think it's even that.  i think most of them pay him to access an active message board of like-minded fans.  any coverage they provide is like a bonus, which is why no one cares that the coverage sucks.

[sys]

and i'm not blaming his customers, either.  i'd pay sd to access this board, if i had to.  but of course, there's a lot of posters here that are more enterprising and tech proficient than on gpc, so if sd decided to charge for access here, someone would just start a new free board and everyone would migrate.

the gpc messageboarders don't have that option.

[michigancat]

I've posted this before, but his subscribers don't care about scoops/breaking news, they care about their K-state centric viewpoint plus the rivals recruiting network. Honestly, no one touches them when it comes to the overall depth of coverage they provide on KSU sports, and that's why they're successful.

i don't think it's even that.  i think most of them pay him to access an active message board of like-minded fans.  any coverage they provide is like a bonus, which is why no one cares that the coverage sucks.

maybe. keep in mind that I haven't read any of his coverage in years, I just assume people love the Fitz opinion pieces and D. Scott pieces and having beat writers at every game who cover only KSU full-time.

[Panjandrum]

Regardless of what some on here feel about BOTC, it has eaten into their share. It will never truly compete because there is no access to a recruiting database, but it does get hundreds of thousands of visits each month.

The site doesn't always get the same level of interviews, but that is improving. Luke Thompson recently interviewed Ryan Muller via a podcast, and Derek Smith (who now writes for the Junction City paper) had a long form article with multiple players from the 03 team. Snyder has even been interviewed a few times.

I take credit for none of that because I'm associated in name (i.e. avatar) only now, but Fitz does see it as a threat.  He has removed links before, and when I had a GPC sub, he removed one of my links and said it was Rivals policy because they viewed SB Nation as a competitor.  That was nearly five years ago when we were 90% smaller than we are now.

I'd love nothing more than to eat into his profits, and if the site is even doing that a little bit, I'm incredibly happy.

[sys]

I've posted this before, but his subscribers don't care about scoops/breaking news, they care about their K-state centric viewpoint plus the rivals recruiting network. Honestly, no one touches them when it comes to the overall depth of coverage they provide on KSU sports, and that's why they're successful.

i don't think it's even that.  i think most of them pay him to access an active message board of like-minded fans.  any coverage they provide is like a bonus, which is why no one cares that the coverage sucks.

maybe. keep in mind that I haven't read any of his coverage in years, I just assume people love the Fitz opinion pieces and D. Scott pieces and having beat writers at every game who cover only KSU full-time.

i think they do love the d scott fluff pieces, but i don't think they're paying for that.  i don't think they actually care much about the fitz articles or the other writers' articles, but i think they are paying some for having people that write articles, attend games and press conferences, call recruits, etc. post on the messageboard and respond to posted questions.

like they're not paying for the writing itself, but they are paying for access to people with the implied credibility of being beat/recruiting writers.

[CNS]

I agree w sys on Wabash being what they come for.

[michigancat]

I've posted this before, but his subscribers don't care about scoops/breaking news, they care about their K-state centric viewpoint plus the rivals recruiting network. Honestly, no one touches them when it comes to the overall depth of coverage they provide on KSU sports, and that's why they're successful.

i don't think it's even that.  i think most of them pay him to access an active message board of like-minded fans.  any coverage they provide is like a bonus, which is why no one cares that the coverage sucks.

maybe. keep in mind that I haven't read any of his coverage in years, I just assume people love the Fitz opinion pieces and D. Scott pieces and having beat writers at every game who cover only KSU full-time.

i think they do love the d scott fluff pieces, but i don't think they're paying for that.  i don't think they actually care much about the fitz articles or the other writers' articles, but i think they are paying some for having people that write articles, attend games and press conferences, call recruits, etc. post on the messageboard and respond to posted questions.

like they're not paying for the writing itself, but they are paying for access to people with the implied credibility of being beat/recruiting writers.

yes, that makes sense

[Trim]

like they're not paying for the writing itself, but they are paying for access to people with the implied credibility of being beat/recruiting writers.

Yes, people like feeling like they're part of something exclusive.

[wabash909]

FITZ appeals to the demographic that doesn't know how to use Twitter.