Heart Of The Entrepreneur: Top Sports.News

By ADAM VLACH

Photo by JOHN BURNS

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, or so the saying goes. Fortunately for fans and followers of local sports, one of the countless “big ideas” discussed in the entertainment capital of the world managed to make its way back to Topeka, where it became much more than just an idea. TopSports.news—a locally owned and operated website dedicated to sports coverage and related community events in the Topeka and Shawnee County area—officially launched on Jan. 1, 2021.The brainchild of local businessman Bill Griffin and former Topeka Capital-Journal sports writer Rick Peterson, the website is a merger of entrepreneurial spirit and decades of award-winning sports journalism.

LET’S DO THIS

“The conversation about launching this website started about a year and a half before we actually made it to the webpage,” said Griffin.“ It then accelerated when we were at a brunch in Vegas. While we were there, we said, ‘Let’s take a hard look at doing this.’”

“The more we talked about it, the more it became evident that Rick was willing to put in his effort and dedication,” Griffin continued. “From my side of it, it looked like there was an open opportunity in the market for someone to step in and take over coverage of high school sports.”

At the time that this discussion in Vegas was unfolding, Peterson had at least some idea that his retirement from The Capital-Journal was in the not-too-distant future. He wasn’t, however, ready to retire from the craft, and he had a strong desire to remain engaged with the local high school sports community in particular. By the time Peterson’s retirement date rolled around, the duo found themselves ready to take the leap.

“I was a newspaper sportswriter for 41 years and retired from The Topeka Capital-Journal after more than 31 years on Dec. 1,2020,” explained Peterson. “Then we launched this website on Jan. 1, 2021.” The proverbial ink had hardly dried on Peterson’s newspaper career before he began penning his new, digital legacy. That, he says, was exactly what he wanted.

“I covered high school sports throughout my entire career, so it was natural to continue to do that. As far as sitting and relaxing in retirement, I plan to do some of that, but sports writing is what I know,” Peterson said. “I wasn’t ready to walk away from sports writing when I retired.”

FREE CONTENT

The website’s primary focus is content and sports coverage related to the 10 Topeka and Shawnee County area high schools, Washburn University, and other local community and sporting events, such as the NHRA races at Heartland Motorsports Park. Peterson functions as the website’s primary content creator, leveraging four decades of experience and relationship-building to produce and publish second-to-none coverage.

“I think the biggest thing going for us is the fact that we’re free,” Peterson said. “That was one of the things I insisted on when we started: I wanted everyone to have access to this site. Now, to do that, we have to continue to gain more sponsors, but I think at this point, all that is looking good.”

Griffin would seem to concur with the assessment that engagement with sponsors and partners is positive. Lauding the willingness of local businesses to get behind this digital venture, Griffin made it clear that his and Peterson’s vision would not be what it is today without the support and guidance of their sponsors.

AD-BASED REVENUE

TopSports.news is sustained by an ad-based revenue model through which sponsors are able to promote their businesses on the site for a fee. Those fees allow the site to remain free to readers and, perhaps more importantly, allow Griffin and Peterson to run the business without the influence of outside investors, ultimately empowering them to focus strictly on delivering the best content experience.

“When we first started talking about this, we had talked about whether we wanted to find investors, or whether we wanted todo it ourselves,” Griffin said. “We decided that we’d do it ourselves, so I purchased the website rights. I now take care of the administration and ad sales for the business. Griffin said he talked to several successful business owners about the business plan to gather their perspective and suggestions on the best way to proceed.

“Thankfully, for me, I talked to some great people in this town whom I trust, and every one of them thought it was a great idea, so then it boiled down to just making it happen,” he said. While Griffin and Peterson are satisfied with the results of their venture since it launched, having surpassed 250,000 visits to the website and 500,000 page views in the first six months, both were quick to point out that much work remains to be done as it relates to their overall vision and their business roadmap.

MARKETPLACE RECOGNITION

“The biggest challenge is getting our name recognized and making people aware that we’re here,” Griffin said. If they can maintain their goal of simply providing the best content and coverage of area sports, Griffin believes the metrics and other numbers will take care of themselves. With that being said, he and Peterson are not ones to sit idly by and wait for their presence to grow by word-of-mouth alone.

“We took on the Shawnee County Sports Awards and Hall of Fame banquet as the host this year. That has tremendously boosted our name recognition,” Griffin said. “As football season approaches, we’ll obviously get in front of a lot of football fans and get into radiobroadcasts to expand.”

WANTED: WRITERS

From Peterson’s perspective, finding more writers will be the catalyst for expansion in coverage and content variety. Currently, Peterson plans and creates most of the content himself. That of course places some limitations on the number of events that can be covered in any given week but having diversification not only in the schools covered but in the sports themselves is absolutely part of the plan, he says.

“I will look each week at which games have the most local interest,” Peterson said, explaining part of the decision-making process behind which events he will cover while the business is still building out its writing staff. “I’ll be doing a ‘Game of the Week’ in football and a ‘Game of the Night’ for basketball on Tuesdays and Fridays.”

Peterson said he wants to emphasize, though, that TopSports.news is not just about football and basketball. “We will cover every single sport that is at the KSHAA level,” he said. “Some of my favorite sports to cover are cross country, volleyball, bowling and wrestling. When we started this, we wanted to make sure we covered not only all the high schools, but also all the sports they participate in. When we get into the city tournaments in golf and tennis and cross country, I certainly plan to be there.”

Griffin echoed this sentiment and reiterated the open opportunities for sports journalists: “We need writers. We need someone to come in and help us cover games and events.”

In addition to coverage of the games themselves, Peterson’s content line-up will boast plenty of feature pieces and watchlists—a product of his preference for player-oriented content.

“We’ll do feature stories on anything that comes up—not only the athletes, but the coaches too,” Peterson said. “But I won’t limit myself. If something is newsworthy, I will do it.”

BOLD VISION

Still in its inaugural year, muc hof the business’ focus remains on reaching a larger audience and producing top-notch content through this fall and winter season. However, Griffin and Peterson find themselves aligned on a bold vision for the website’s future.