The Final Countdown (of 2024)
Dear Reader: you are not alone
On the off-chance you are checking your emails in an idle moment between Christmas and New Year, welcome to the final Sport inc. of 2024. Not a full edition, but simply a few stats to reassure you that you are not my only reader - and to keep up this newsletter’s unbroken run of Thursday publications since its launch in July 2021.
That run has reached 182 editions. The first was sent to a list of 259 people I knew from sport and business and was read 366 times.
Over the past year the number of free subscribers has grown by 30% to 1,918 (see chart). The vast majority are names that are unknown to me or have email addresses that leave me guessing as to who sits behind them.
‘Free’ is the operative word as I’ve no plans to monetise these scribblings about the sports industry. While the number of sign-ups continues to grow and you keep on reading, I’ll keep on writing.
Each week, Sport inc. is typically read between 2,000 and 3,500 times. This year, unusually, neither cricket nor athletics was the subject of the most popular editions.
Top of the ‘most read’ list was Darkness on the edge of town back in July, examining the battle between the All England Lawn Tennis Club and Wimbledon residents over expansion plans for The Championships. The AELTC won a comprehensive victory in the end, but my belief that it should do more to provide facilities for the local community still stands. You can read that Sport inc. here
Runner up was One out, all out! in September as footballers in England complained about over-work and threatened strike action. Football’s calendar problem won’t go away and my advice that players consider a media blackout still stands. That edition can be found here
Sport inc. appears every Thursday in City A.M. newspaper and on its website CityAM.com. Any readership on these platforms isn’t included in the above stats. Thanks once again to Frank Dalleres and Matt Hardy at the paper for publishing my columns.
And now for a polite request that has become a seasonal tradition. I’d love to expand the list of people who receive Sport inc. directly by email, rather than finding it each time via Substack or LinkedIn, or having it forwarded by someone else. So, if you know of friends, colleagues, casual acquaintances or random strangers with an interest in the business of sport, please forward them this email and recommend that they click on the ‘Subscribe’ button.
Alternatively, they can send an email to sportinc@substack.com and I will add their address to the distribution list.
Thanks very much in anticipation! And thanks too for your feedback, ideas, encouragement and simply for sticking with me. Normal service resumes next week - in 2025. Happy New Year!