A Whole New Game

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At the outset The National projected its daily draw at 250,000, assuming about 70% of those papers would be sold on day one. Two weeks before the newspaper was launched, wholesalers, who had been talking to newspaper and magazine retailers about their customers' buying habits, came back with another number. They told The National to raise the draw to 380,000.

Interest in sports has mushroomed in the past decade. Attendance records continue to be set. The airwaves grow ever-more saturated with sporting events and sports information. Advertisers see sports as a great vehicle to reach a prime audience -- affluent males between 25 and 54.

The National hopes to be the print version of this phenomenon -- a pipeline to this hard-to-reach audience. Before it had published even a single issue, the paper had signed commitments for 1,200 pages of paid advertising for 1990. At $9,800 per full-color page in all three editions of The National, the paper offers its advertisers low out-of-pocket expense. (Incremental discounts would lower that number further.) Advertising sales director Peter A. Spina says The National's strategy is to cultivate charter advertisers that will not see large increases in cost per thousand as circulation picks up. The National might continue to look like a bargain to loyal advertisers for years to come. USA Today (circulation 1.7 million) charges $66,000 per color page. Sports Illustrated (circulation 3.1 million) charges $113,000.

Another facet of The National's strategy is to rely initially on circulation for 75% of revenue, and advertising the balance. (With most magazines the ratio is about 50-50.) This will take pressure off the ad pages. Spina will not be forced to chase advertisers. Rather, he can court -- and showcase -- blue-chip advertisers that do not often advertise in sports publications. It is a given that The National can wallow in beer, cigarette, and automobile ads. But keeping those advertisers in check and enticing an IBM or American Express into the paper will be key. Charter advertisers thus far include Philip Morris, Panasonic, Minolta, AT&T, Nike, and Sears Roebuck. Those companies may have come in because The National offers advertisers another advantage: the pass-along factor -- how many readers see each copy. The National is projected to have a pass-along number between 2.5 and 3.0. This compares favorably with daily newspapers, which are in the 1.2 to 2 range. Moreover, daily papers reach a mass audience. The National reaches a choice slice of the market.

The National also offers urgency. A color ad can run within 48 hours of being placed. It produces, as well, a hard-core audience, its ranks uninflated by discounts, free alarm clocks, and promises that the bill isn't due before the next millenium. The National is a demand buy. The reader plunks down his two quarters to buy the paper -- now.

The National has announced that it will spend $10 million its first year to promote and advertise the product, but one newspaper executive finds that number low. "To successfully launch a national newspaper and have it become known you've got to spend between $30 million and $50 million in the first three years." Given Emilio Azcarraga's deep pockets, promotion may be the least of his worries.

If things go according to plan, in two years The National will be in 25 markets. That's 25 bureaus sending copy and photos back to New York. That's New York editing the package and making up the pages to be sent on to 25 print sites, from which the paper will be taken by 25 fleets of trucks -- all in the space of about four hours. That's so many contracts to negotiate, so many suppliers to be relied on, so many snowstorms to endure. "The biggest problem will be the linkage," admits Peter Price. "There are so many individual pieces that have to work together."

Down the hall in another corner office, looking out over a prime block of Fifth Avenue, Frank Deford, smoothing his purple tie, projects none of this angst. Deford, with his graying swept-back hair and pencil mustache, projects a swashbuckling air. He has never been an editor before, never worked for a newspaper. He seems bemused by this role that fate has handed him. "Right now it's a little vague who our readers will be," says Deford. This seems to excite him. He continues the thought, a bit of wonder now rising in his voice: "The product I know will be terrific. The technology seems to work, and we know we can distribute it. But at the end of the food chain, will Mr. Sports Fan reach down into his pocket, put half a buck on the table, and say, 'Give me a National.' . . . ?"

Research assistance was provided by Leslie Brokaw.

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