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ONE YEAR LATER CHECKING IN WITH NEOMG
JANET CENTURY
By JAY MILLER jmiller@crain.com
Chris Quinn, vice president of content, and Andrea Hogben, president of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, or NEOMG, in the cleveland.com newsroom.
“I think Sunday print will be here for a long time.” That remark, made by Andrea Hogben, president of the Northeast Ohio Media Group, or NEOMG, the company that operates The Plain Dealer, the weekly Sun Newspapers and cleveland.com, needs some context. It wasn’t said to announce the coming of a one-day-a-week newspaper anytime soon. Rather, her reference to the traditional mainstay of news organizations was her way of emphasizing the unique breadth and depth of reporting that the Sunday newspaper represents. It was made during an hourlong conversation in her second-floor office at 1801 Superior Ave. that included Chris Quinn, NEOMG’s vice president of content, about the future of the news organization she leads. But Hogben did say Sunday. Not Wednesday or Friday, but Sunday. And it may, someday, come to pass. When copies of The PD didn’t hit driveways in Northeast Ohio on Monday, Aug. 5, 2013, it was in its way an historic event. It ended more than 100 years of seven-day-aweek home delivery of The PD. Instead, the paper is being delivered only four days a
week — Sunday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The company’s website, cleveland.com, is now the operation’s flagship news outlet, and it’s setting records for attracting an audience, Quinn said. Technology is moving too fast and unpredictably to make the future of news anything but a moving target. While it may be hard for consumers who like newsprint with their daily coffee and oatmeal, Sunday-only may, eventually, be the fate of The PD and newspapers like it. The delivery cutback and reorganization here is similar to what Advance Publications, the New York-based company that owns NEOMG, is doing at its 30 other news organizations across the county. Industry observers, some of whom were aghast at Advance’s curtailment of home delivery that began at its New Orleans TimesPicayune in September 2012, now generally acknowledge the coming marginalization of print, though many believe Advance has jumped the gun. But unlike some of its publicly owned news competitors that have investors breathing down their necks for steadily growing quarterly profits, the Newhouse family-owned Advance can better afford to take the long view “Very few (news organizations) have folSee NEOMG, page 25
Johnny Ticket Sales? Resale market says yes By KEVIN KLEPS kkleps@crain.com
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Johnny Manziel isn’t going to begin the season as the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback, but the rookie who is almost as likely to attract eyeballs to gossip sites as he is to ESPN.com is being credited for a Joe Thomas-sized spike on the secondary market. Vivid Seats, a national secondary ticket marketplace, said the average price of Browns tickets on the secondary market has increased 11.6% year-over-year. SeatGeek, a ticket search engine that compiles secondary-market listings, said Browns tickets are up 30.5% — the fourth-largest jump in the league. Mark Klang, owner of Amazing Tickets Inc. in Mayfield Village, is even more optimistic. Klang, who says he does “more first-hand
Winning is the best ticket Scott Merk, owner of Merk’s Tickets in Brook Park, “definitely” believes Pettine made the right decision in starting Hoyer.
But when it comes to his business, which includes selling Browns seats, Merk said it isn’t important which QB starts the season. “Opening day, no matter who you put out there, will sell,” Merk said. “You can put any team out there, it will sell well — no matter who the quarterback is.” His competitor, Klang, concurs. “If Johnny started the year and the team struggled, it wouldn’t matter if Johnny was the quarterback if they aren’t performing well,” Klang said. “Ultimately, people want to see the team win.” Winning, of course, has been every bit as difficult for the Browns as finding a long-term QB — troubles that often go hand-in-hand in today’s NFL. Big things aren’t being predicted for the 2014 Browns, but the momentum that was created following the hiring of general manSee BROWNS, page 8
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ALSO INSIDE: NEWSPAPER
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buying” of Browns seats than anyone, said the difference in the prices the team’s games are fetching on the secondary market this year is more than 40% ahead of 2013. “Overall, my Browns margins are way up, my revenues are way up and my overall tickets sold are way up,” Klang said. The broker credits the increase to Manziel, who was tabbed as Brian Hoyer’s backup by first-year head coach Mike Pettine after a training camp competition marked by both players’ struggles. “The Browns are on ESPN 24/7, they’re on the NFL Network all the time — that’s all because of Johnny,” Klang said.
GOODMAN TO ST. LUKE’S Former Greater Cleveland Food Bank CEO has embraced a new role at Saint Luke’s Foundation ■ Page 4
Entire contents © 2014 by Crain Communications Inc. Vol. 35, No. 34