Press Row

Like him or not—and I don’t think many do—Jay Mariotti’s departure from the Chicago Sun-Times leaves yet another sizeable void in the sports newspaper world.

While his editor seems to think Mariotti’s strange exit will produce some mysterious spike in readership, bringing back all those jilted Chicagoans that just boycotted the paper because of Mariotti, that is simply not realistic. If those readers subscribe to newspapers in the Chicago area, then that means they’re probably already subscribers of the Tribune, and most people don’t have the money or time to subscribe to and read both. Besides that, hasn’t he heard that newspaper subscriptions are sinking faster than—thank you, Jay—the Titanic? There aren’t many magical “untapped publics” left for newspapers to tap into.

But, anyway…let’s take a moment to look exactly at what Mariotti is doing. Of course, we’ll be assuming that Mariotti’s resignation is part of some bigger plan—and we’ve seen how much trouble Mariotti has when he tries to look ahead.

Looking at his reasons for leaving his post with the Sun-Times, it sounds like he desperately wants to hook on with one of the major web-based sports sites, like ESPN.com or Yahoo!, which he heaped praise on during his resignation address on the radio Wednesday morning.

So, where might Jay end up?

ESPN – The logical choice, given his appearances on Around The Horn and ESPN’s penchant of hiring anyone with any kind of name recognition. But, where does he fit? There may not be enough room for Mariotti in the “National Voice” room, already occupied by Rick Reilly, Pat Forde, Gene Wojciechowski, and Bill Simmons, among others who occasionally dabble in the mass-audience style writing.

ESPN already boasts a large lineup of the off-beat writer types too, looking at their 16-person cast over at Page 2. Besides, Mariotti would want to be front-page material, like Reilly.

Where does that leave Mariotti at ESPN? Just a shot in the dark: could ESPN bring him on board, then start an MLB Blog Network, like they have with the NFL—and put Mariotti in the AL Central circuit? That way, Mariotti could get his every-so-often national scope-type column on the front page. Plus, he’d be good for a crazy Ozzie column every now and then.

Yahoo! – Perhaps sensing the crowded party over at Bristol, Mariotti spoke highly of Yahoo’s site numbers during the Olympics, which if they were over 30 million, may trump any viewership that Mariotti has ever had in his entire life.

This one is interesting: I’m still not sure if Yahoo is still an up-and-comer in the sports web world, or if they’re just going to always be trading a few million unique views with ESPN every month. That said, bringing aboard Mariotti would be the equivalent of the Suns trading for Shaq. It doesn’t fit your style at all, but at some point, you’re going to have to roll the dice if you want to be the best. (if you think that one didn’t work out…okay, Favre to the Jets is another good example.)

For this to work, several things need to happen. First, Yahoo would probably have to open its wallet to fork over what Mariotti will demand/think he’s worth. Next, Mariotti would want his little spot at the front of the page, a la the ESPN “National Voices”—which would be a change for Yahoo, which, to this point, has been all about a streamlined approach to the content and scores. Then, what will he write about? Will he get the Simmons/Reilly/Forde ticket of “whatever’s on people’s minds?”

If Yahoo truly considers this route, they will probably think long and hard about whether Mariotti is talented enough to carry such a torch—or, if he is worth that much money for such a drastic step away from the norm.

FOX Sports – The clear third wheel in the sports web race, this is the kind of hire that Fox would make. He could probably finagle Whitlock-level treatment and Fox will care less about how the two coexisted (see: Rick Reilly and Bill Simmons at ESPN.) They could use him on-air for their MLB playoff programming, whether it’s in the booth or on site. He could appear on any number of Fox’s TV screamfests and fit in nicely. Plus, it isn’t like the ESPN to FOX thing hasn’t happened before (Keith Olbermann).

I’m not sure if Mariotti’s death sentence for everything print includes the likes of Sports Illustrated—then again, I’m equally unsure he would fit in there anyway. I get the feeling that, wherever Mariotti ends up, he’ll expect top-tier treatment; would AOL or CBS Sportsline roll enough of a red carpet for him?

Linked up:

Telander on Mariotti: “Celebrations in the White Sox locker room … High-Fives in the press box” and Mariotti: “I Feel Like I’m Working For the Titanic” (The Big Lead)
Jay Mariotti leaves the Sun-Times, and He’ll Have Company (Chicago Sun-Times editor blog)
Jay Mariotti’s Year in Review (Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune)

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