For decades, print media has been transitioning to digital, with physical magazines, newspapers and newsletters declining in numbers and delivery cadence. But there are exceptions, just witness the New York Post’s forthcoming California edition.
On a smaller scale, Kevin Durant’s Boardroom plans to launch a new print magazine. Boardroom has only been a digital site, so it is moving in reverse order from the once-typical print to online migration. A trial issue is due out later in August with a cover feature on number one ranked female tennis star Aryna Sabalenka, and the plan is to print four times a year starting in 2026.
Durant and his business manager, Rich Kleiman, started Boardroom in 2019, following its sister company 35 Ventures (named after the jersey number the NBA star has worn much of his career), which houses their investment and media production arms.
The content is focused on athletes, musicians, film stars and other entertainers, so it’s not a pure sports site. A recent “cover” story is on R&B singer Giveon, with other links to stories including the FIFA World Cup, Nike FC Barcelona’s Kobe Bryant kits, and on the opening viewership for Happy Gilmore 2.
Why publish a physical magazine? Expenses are far greater than digital only, the publication has to be printed and delivered, and is typically out of date before it comes off the presses.
“There’s starting to be more and more of a value put on something in the physical because of how saturated the digital landscape is and just how much time we all spend on it,” said Kleiman, a music industry veteran before he partnered with Durant as his business manager and partner in 35 Ventures. “So it is not meant to become the main revenue generator of our business, that is built around subscription and brand integration … It’s not something that we’re seeing as a big driver in growth from a monetization standpoint, as much as a driver in marketing, and adds a level of kind of cachet and premium to our existing businesses.”
The magazine, also monikered Boardroom, will first be available later this month at the U.S. Open Tennis Championships, and also next month at the sports business conference in Los Angeles the media platform hosts annually with CNBC.
“We’re calling it a mini mag, and we’re only making a few thousand of them, but starting next year, we’ll be putting out a quarterly, more traditional print magazine,” Kleiman said. The mini mag is set to run 50 pages, with 120 targeted for the quarterly next year.
There has been a slow drip of new print publications in recent years, testing the conventional wisdom that print is dead. To name a few, trailblazing online magazine Tablet this year put out a print edition; cultural toy brand POPMART launched a youth culture magazine this year called play/Ground; and last year rock online magazine SPIN relaunched its print edition.
Boardroom occupies a hard to define space. It’s not a sports publication, or a sports business outlet, because it also covers popular culture. It was ahead of the trend of sports sweeping into popular culture, whether it’s the explosion of women’s sports or the ubiquity of the NFL, and the cross over between sports and entertainment.
In addition to a story on Sabalenka, which is a Q&A that Kleiman conducted himself, the pilot issue has other items, including a piece on Rolex’s sponsorship presence in tennis. Boardroom does not plan to hire a dedicated staff for the magazine, Kleiman said, but largely tap into its existing employees who put out the digital news, including on the main site and in newsletters.
This back to the future moment of a new print publication Kleiman likens to the uptick in sales of vinyl records. It doesn’t harbor a return to the old way of doing things, he said, but is simply one more platform among many.
