Business Profile: The Sports Network
Company: The Sports Network
Launched: 1983
Site: www.sportsnetwork.com
Mickey Charles will tell you that The Sports Network exists because someone once told him that it couldn’t.
Charles was operating a call-in sports information service in the early 1980s, where customers dialed a 900 number and got 60 seconds worth of scores and statistics from games in the major sports. As part of that, his company used the existing statistics service to gather some information, a service with which he says he grew unhappy.
When Charles mentioned the possibility of starting his own company to rival what was already in the market, he was told that mounting a challenge would be impossible.
“‘You’ll never do it,’” Charles says the company’s CEO told him at the time. “You know, telling a Jewish kid from The Bronx ‘you’ll never do it’ is a big mistake.”
So, in 1983, The Sports Network was launched in the kitchen of the Charles household in Pennsylvania with a moderately sized staff. How many employees were there?
“Besides my wife, Roz, and myself?” Charles asks … and answers.
Expansion quickly took it to the basement and the garage before the business outgrew the house after four years. Today, it sits in an office building within a mile of Charles’ home and employs a staff of more than 100. Of course, it’s still run by the same folks who started it.
“When you talk to myself and my wife, you’re talking to the board of directors - more so her,” Charles says.
The Sports Network covers a bevy of sports, as is evident upon a visit to the company’s homepage. The navigation bar lists the four traditional majors, plus golf, tennis, soccer and auto racing. The “More Sports” and “Other Sports” links present some of the more fringe pursuits, such as lacrosse, mixed martial arts and the prominent American marathons. Even within the major sports, offerings include minor leagues, arena football and various levels of college sports.
Beyond the American sports, TSN also caters to international fans by covering sports such as European soccer, Formula One racing and rugby. Charles estimates that it was at least 13 years ago when his company reached deals in England to cover cricket and rugby in greater depth.
The international service has increased lately to include a growing presence in China, where TSN has partnered with a mobile service provider to deliver sports content to cell phones.
“The weapon of the future is the mobile phone,” Charles says.
Through its website, TSN supplements its scores, injury updates and other game information original content such as game previews and summaries, and Charles says it was the first outlet to tell viewers where they could find the games on television.
“How many ways can you say Cubs 3, Phillies 2?” Charles says. “You have to make yourself interesting.”
Along with the information available via the wire service, TSN offers branded sites that can feature the customer’s templates and logos on pages of TSN-produced content. Whereas some other companies work under revenue-sharing agreements, TSN negotiates a monthly fee for the service, allowing the customer to keep all revenue from advertising.
On the fantasy front, TSN added a separate section on its website for fantasy content this year. Although Charles says he’s been aware of fantasy since people were first talking about “rotisserie,” he says doesn’t play and relies on those members of his staff - such as Steve Schwarz, fantasy sports editor; Rob Dougherty, internet managing editor; and Kevin Spiegel, director of internet content - who are more intimately familiar with the games to drive that area.
“There’s nothing wrong with deferring to people who know more than you do, whether you own the company or not,” Charles says.
The section currently focuses on baseball and football, but TSN plans to add basketball and hockey coverage for the upcoming seasons.
Charles says next year will “definitely” bring international soccer into the TSN fantasy mix and that any further additions will depend on what the market dictates.
“I’m not sitting here hyperventilating about what we’ll do next,” he says. “Whatever comes down the pike that looks interesting, we’re going to do. It doesn’t have to make monetary sense. Why? Because it adds to the value of everything else.”
Tags: Business Profile, fantasy sports business, fantasy sports industry, mickey charles, the sports network
