T&F news to end print version with this months edition

It is true

https://trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/display-article?arId=145198

The Dawning Of A New Era For T&FN

It will come as a suprise to no one that these aren't the best of times for ink & paper-based publications, but fear not, Track & Field News isn't going away. We're just ceasing our print version.

The December 2017 edition was the last one you'll ever find in your snail-mail box, or on a newsstand. From now on, it's all-electronics-all-the-time.

There are some marked advantages to switching to the e-world, of course, not the least of which is the ability to be on top of breaking news in something closer to real time, rather than having to wait up to a month.

There is another shoe about to drop, however. Even with the savings that come with ceasing the print version, we still need to raise our rates to stay in business.

Let year 71 begin!

The Rest Of The Story

Dear Subscribers:

Thanks to a brave step taken long ago by our founders, Bert & Cordner Nelson, when they decided the world needed a dedicated track & field magazine, T&FN has been faithfully serving the track & field community since February 1948.

That's almost 70 years of being "The Bible Of The Sport," with our World Rankings becoming the gold standard in that department.

Unfortunately, ink & paper is an economic model that is no longer working. As we're sure you have noticed, old standby newspapers and magazines have been folding left and right in this digital age.

We're not immune. For too many years now, steadily decreasing T&FN subscriber numbers and the flight of advertising revenue to the electronic world have combined to forge a scenario of our running significant deficits.

So, we must change, as the Editor's column first predicted back in November of 2004 with a piece titled, "The 500lb gorilla on T&FN's back: how can we remain relevant in today's Internet world?".

Welcome to the e-world

We've made many changes in the last decade-plus, but unfortunately the print model is no longer financially feasible, leaving us with the harsh reality that the December 2017 edition was the last one that you'll ever receive in that format.

Starting with January 2018, T&FN will become a digital-only production.

Those of you who are already digital subscribers well know the significant benefits of not having to endure the lengthy printing and mailing delays which make each issue not reach you until a couple of weeks after the electronic version is available.

But with our changeover, not only will you be getting the quicker delivery, you'll also benefit from a 2-part changeover.

For the indoor season, what you'll be receiving electronically is what current digital subscribers already get: a digital magazine that mimics the print version of the magazine and comes out once a month. But to enhance that experience, however, we won't wait until the full magazine is ready for publishing before you get to see some of the constituent parts. We'll "leak" as much as we can ahead of time, so you'll be farther ahead of the curve than ever before. For a sneak peek at the records section of our January issue click on the image below.

When we segue to the outdoor campaign we'll be moving away from the "monthly" concept and closer to what you'd expect from a "daily" version. While we'd love to say that means you'll get fresh material every day, that would be impractical. You will be pleasantly surprised, however, at how much you do get.

And at the end of each month you'll get a magazine-like composite with links to all the material we've prepared for that month. You'll still be able to rely on T&FN as a well-ordered chronicling of the sport, just as we've always done. We have not lost track of our original mission, serving the nation's track fans in the best method possible.

The other shoe drops

There's no way to sugar-coat this: starting now the price for a 1-year subscription becomes $79 per year-our first increase in subscription price in 18 years.

That's the cold hard fact: we have no option but to hit you with a double whammy if we are to stay in business. You lose the print version and you have to pay a significant amount more for an electronic version that may well at first feel rather alien to many of you.

The nuts & bolts

Current print subscribers will be converted to digital with the January 2018 issue. If we do not already have a valid email address for you (i.e., you do not currently receive eTrack or the digital version of T&FN), you'll need to provide us with your e-mail address right away so we can make the change. You can do this online by logging in to your account at

www.trackandfieldnews.com

using the "For Subscribers Only" link. Or you may email us at

subs@trackandfieldnews.com

with your email address. Please be sure to include your full name and address including zip code (and customer number if you have it available) with your email.

If you recently subscribed or renewed-before January 15, 2018-we'll honor your subscription over the term of the old rates. Subscribers at the new rate automatically get eTrack, our weekly e-mail listing of all the major results of the previous weekend.

As mentioned, if you are already a digital subscriber there will be no change for you, in that you need take no action now. If you are a print-only subscriber and do not receive eTrack, make sure we get your e-mail address right away.

If you are a first-class mail subscriber, or a foreign rate subscriber, your current subscription term will be extended accordingly.

If you are a digital + print subscriber, your current subscription will be extended accordingly.

So, you'll have to ask yourself if the greater cost (less than 7 dollars a month) is worth it to you-to keep abreast of your favorite sport... A year's subscription is cheaper than a ticket to a Broadway show or a concert. Or-if you prefer to think of us as one of your pet charities, like NPR or the Red Cross, we won't mind.

Again, for those who renewed or signed up at the old rates before January 15, 2018, we will honor your subscription-digitally, of course-until renewal time. The new rates will kick in for you then. There are details to work out in the next few months and we'll keep you posted as everything is firmed up. We are extremely grateful for your past support and hope you'll weather these changes with us.>>

Very sad day! As a Brit I really enjoyed the magazine; a yearly subscription was my Xmas present from my Dad for several years from 1975 to the mid '80s. Really looked forward to it dropping through the letter box, it gave a perspective that UK based magazines never could.

Obviously I've mastered the very basics of electronic communication but I still don't like reading large amounts of text from a screen. I can't be the only one of my generation with this issue. so even if I was a subscriber (and I had toyed with the idea or getting back to T&FN) I wouldn't continue.

Further proof that the modern world sucks. Bring back the 1970s!!

Wow. This is huge. Just got the mag yesterday. I really enjoy the physical aspect of it. And for $79/yr moving forward, not sure I will re-up. I really think there is an opportunity for some type of Running Times T&FNs hybrid mag ( less out-dated results, more in-depth articles, interviews with great pics). Perhaps as a person getting close to 60 y.o., I am in the minority.

longtime subscriber is crushed wrote:

T&F News goes all electronic.

website announcement

https://trackandfieldnews.com/discussion/showthread.php?155882-the-end-of-T-amp-FN-as-you-know-it&p=2651833#post2651833

Bad news . Yeah I’ve subscribed for almost 40 years . When my subscription expires that’s it for me. Adios ,

from what i understand the tour part of T&FN is the thing that has been keeping the mag afloat for many years. This is not a shock. Not sure if I will re-up either when the time comes

Wow. I just got an email from a reported asking me about this.

It's sad. Having said I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I haven't subscribed in ages, but I love holding print in my hand.

However, I don't get the double whammy of cancelling print AND raising the price. How about trying raising the price before cancelling the print edition? Am I getting this right that the price is going to $48 to $79 and you're getting a lot less in return? That seems nuts or they waited way too long to make any change. Their subscribers are pretty loyal so increasing the price along the way might have prevented this double about face.

Anyone know the cost of mailing out a magazine? With the increase I'd think they should try and keep at least an annual print issue or quarterly. I'm assuming the vast majority of their subscribers are print. Maybe I'm wrong on that.

And will they even have an online "magazine" or is it just going to be links? The value of a lot of magazines is in how they compile their info. If it's just links and it's not timely I think this really be the end for them which would be crazy sad.

Athletics Weekly still puts out a weekly magazine in Britain. Interesting that that is still going on in Britain. But I think it shows people need recent news. You could argue that Sports Illustrated going to biweekly a lot of the time shows print doesn't need to be as frequent and I agree, but people still need to be able to get recent information in some form and with TFN that wasn't the case. There own stuff came out a month later.

Feel free to email me

wejo@letsrun.com

In expressing my shock above. I didn't express my gratitude. I want to thank everyone at TFN for making a great magazine. Without TFN I don't think LetsrRun.com ever would have happened. It was the only way to follow pro track and field and everyone I know associated with the magazine is so knowledgeable.

On a personal note, I remember thinking I arrived when I got listed in the magazine as an athlete for the first time.

Sad, but maybe inevitable the way print seems to be going. Running Times went away and now Runners World seems to have given up on being more than a weight loss and fitness magazine.

Personally, I like holding a real magazine, just like I like reading a real newspaper at breakfast, but with everyone hooked up to the Internet, it's hard to compete with stale information. I'm subscribed to print and electronic versions and by the time I read the paper version, it goes fast because I've probably seen most of the information already. Anyway, I wish them luck.

wejo wrote:

Am I getting this right that the price is going to $48 to $79 and you're getting a lot less in return? That seems nuts or they waited way too long to make any change.

They're behind the times in realizing they're behind the times.

I started reading it in the late 60s. It would get read and reread and passed around more than Playboy in my yute. +but the pages weren't stuck together).

smd wrote:

wejo wrote:

Am I getting this right that the price is going to $48 to $79 and you're getting a lot less in return? That seems nuts or they waited way too long to make any change.

They're behind the times in realizing they're behind the times.

Yes. I remember thinking they'd go out of business 10 years ago, not because they don't produce a good product, but because they were slow to adapt to change. And now that they are forced to change, it's going to be drastic (sudden format + price change) for their audience which could end badly.

I really don't get the decision to raise the price a ton in % terms and stop the print edition.

Most people want TFN because they like a physical magazine.

But from what I understand for larger circulation magazines 50,000 you can print AND mail the mag for under 50 cents.

https://www.trackandfieldnews.com/index.php/category-mediakit/2122-circulation

This says their circulation is 12,000 x 12= 144,000 magazines mailed every month.

Even if their cost is to print and mail is $1 a mag it only costs $12 a year to print and mail the mag year per subscriber.

So if print was the problem that is only $12 of their costs (got to pay for layout, etc but sounds like they're still going to have digital edition with layout).

Yet they're raising it $31 and cancelling the print subscription? Sadly I think this might backfire as they're removing something that people value a ton (The print magazine). At $79 a year, and with only $12 a year for printing and mailing I think they should keep the physical mag. If my numbers are way off let me know. Or charge $99 a year and keep the print.

I am still recovering from 2015 when Running Times and Marathon & Beyond folded.

What is the business model that allows magazines like Ultrarunner and Trail Runner to survive (when they most likely have a smaller potential reader base)? I may have to start reading them because I like a "physical magazine" and the last two issues of Runner's World clearly demonstrate that RW is not even going to pretend to be something other than a women's fitness magazine.

**This says their circulation is 12,000 x 12= 144,000 magazines mailed every month**

Why would a magazine with a circulation of 12,000 (probably closer to 7000) mail out 144,000 magazines a month?

Mansplain this to me.

**This says their circulation is 12,000 x 12= 144,000 magazines mailed every year**

Mansplained

I had 2 PB&Js & french cut string beans for dinner tonight wrote:

**This says their circulation is 12,000 x 12= 144,000 magazines mailed every year**

Mansplained

As I posted on the thread about Hearst buying RW, these are T&FN’s circulation figures.

In the Oct. 2017 issue of T&FN on p.40, the required publishers Statement of Ownership says:

Total Paid Distribution: 7,504 (avg. during preceding12 months) ; 7,411 (actual number of single issue nearest to filing date). (On life support?)

My recollection was that their circulation peaked at around 30,000 so I checked some random old issues.

Oct. 1975: avg. 19,840 single issue nearest 19,970

Nov. 1982: avg. 30,916 single issue nearest 30,795

Jan. 1993: avg. 26,567 single issue nearest 28,004

The total of all distributions, including free copies was in every case a little higher. But paid circulation seems most relevant.

As one of the long time subscribers - since mid 1964 (with almost all of them sitting in my closet) - I, too, fail to comprehend the need for drastically raising their price even as they eliminate all the costs of printing and mailing. At this point I can’t imagine renewing.

It is sad. I subscribed to the print from 1971 to 2012, then switched to the digital version (my wife had grown alarmed at the number of old issues I had accumulated). But reading the digital version was not the same -- basically just a pdf, instead of a truly digital version -- and when they then somehow forget to send me a renewal notice the next year, it took me months to realize it had stopped coming.

There was a time when I eagerly looked forward to every issue, read every word, even did my own annual rankings -- for every event, not just the distance ones. I gradually had less time/interest for all that, but still was loyal.

I think they've been a great boost to the sport, admire their love of it, and wish them all well.

Now if I could figure out what to do with the 40 years of old issues...