The collapse of French company Sport Media & Strategie has brought about the closure of free weekly magazine Sport. The last edition of the magazine was issued on 3 April 2009. Sport was distributed by hand each Friday in London, and was handed out at certain commuter stations, airports, on Eurostar and at gyms and selected sports centres around the UK.
Sport Managing Director, Greg Miall, confirmed that the title had suspended operations and a buyer would be sought for the UK edition. Sport’s 24 staff will be without a job unless a buyer can be found.
The company has already held talks with larger European publishers over the sale of the British operations but a deal is far from being agreed. It is not known whether a buyer will be sought for the magazine’s French edition.
"Although the magazine is tremendously popular with readers, especially the AB demographic, over the last few months we have seen several clients close down and others cut advertising spend dramatically," Miall noted.
“The last six months have been very tough. In September and October, when Lehman went under, a lot of people pulled their advertising and waited until Christmas. The market has come down a lot more than the official WPP and Aegis-type estimates. If you are down 20% you are not doing so badly. When you speak to people who run businesses they are down more,” he added.
"Sport was ahead of its business plan last summer, but no one launches a company with a business plan that includes the worst recession for 80 years. Ours certainly did not and, faced with financial armageddon, we simply cannot sustain our current operations as an independent company. As such we have decided to suspend publication whilst we consider future options for the business."
Originally launched in the UK in September 2006, Sport won a ‘launch of the year’ award in 2007 and printed 114 issues overall. The title built its reputation on big interviews with sports personalities such as Tiger Woods, David Beckham and, recently, Rafael Nadal. Triathlon was a regular sports feature, in 2008 in particular.
The title is facing a grim future and potential permanent closure despite its audited UK distribution standing at 317,209 copies per week for the second half of 2008, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations data.
