FORUM CLUB.
Here’s the update and the reasoning for the slow content churn since the end of the Kings season.
First, the details. Forum Report will remove its paywall for the indefinite future. Throughout the summer, and almost certainly for the 2023-24 season, articles will be accessible to all. With this shift, the site will transition towards a column-based Kings and NHL approach in which I’ll throw up scoops and breaking news when appropriate but focus more on the experiential, gonzo-style journalism I prefer. Similar to the recent LAX article, I also plan on writing about Los Angeles lifestyle with some travel writing sewn in. I’m in the process of building a blueprint for next season, but it won’t include daily beat coverage.
Second, thank you. The amount of appreciation I received over email, text and on the concourses was humbling. Thank you so much to all who continued the conversation right where it left off. It was a great feeling when so many friends, colleagues, hockey operations and public figures subscribed in the site’s infancy, but most of all, the support received from the longtime fans accentuated the drive to keep going at a high speed. Your enjoyment last decade and throughout the 2022-23 season is why I embarked on this project.
Most importantly, it’s with deep love that my family is recognized for their role in this. Thank you for allowing me to embark on this leap of faith, and oh my goodness, thank you, Jen, for all the additional responsibilities you absorbed while I missed 83 dinners and bedtimes this season. I love you madly. Thank you.
I deeply the work I was doing and thought the analysis, honesty and focus were all of high quality, and I so appreciated all the emails, texts and conversations on the concourses that picked me up in the dog days. Thank you for valuing my work.
Thank you, LA Kings PR, and thank you, Zach Dooley for sending me about 18,000 audio clips from practices and morning skates I was unable to attend. Thank you, Carrlyn Bathe, and thank you, Frank Seravalli, Chris Johnston, Lisa Dillman and the PHWA for your support last fall. Thank you, James Nicholson, and thank you to my friends who added content and worked on the back end of the site when I was a child lost in the wilderness, trying to figure out how online payment systems worked. Thank you to my friends at NHL Network. I’m always appreciative for our conversations and the reporting work I’ve been offered. Thank you to my agent, friend and lifeline, Dan O’Connor, even if we’re on opposite sides of the touchline this weekend.
Third, the refunds. Annual subscribers will receive them. I’m still in the process of working with my web/Stripe/PM Pro guru to determine the best way to execute this, but annual users will start seeing prorated refunds appear in the accounts used to register in the upcoming weeks. There will be tiered refunds on an 11-month year – hockey goes dark in August – based on the time of your subscription. If you’re not satisfied with the amount, I welcome you to reach out. My email is jonnyrosen-at-gmail, and I’ll do everything in my power to come to a resolution you’re happy with.
Fourth, why? I’m excited to continue this project on a schedule that doesn’t require as much time in gridlock traffic. This isn’t the prime reason, but hear me out. Covering the NHL in Los Angeles is different than, say, Columbus. With the price of gas, I needed to sell two monthly subscriptions each time I commuted to El Segundo or (lets out cartoonishly exasperated sigh) Crypto Dot Com Arena. The cycle of subscriptions followed a pattern in which I sold a ton upon the creation of the site; on the first two road trips; when Cal Petersen was waived; and when Jonathan Quick was traded. If the team was at home for extended periods of time, or if there wasn’t a stream of breaking news, or if access was limited, it was hard to find the right angle to sell subscriptions. I fell back into a habit of reporting on practice events, which LA Kings Insider has down pat, and even when I found interesting angles at practice or after games, like Sean Durzi’s honesty about how criticism affected him, or Todd McLellan and Jared Bednar’s roots in Saskatchewan on the fifth anniversary of the Humboldt Broncos tragedy, or the Diamond Sports/Bally’s saga, etc, etc, etc, they just didn’t drive revenue to the same degree as reporting on trades, injuries and controversy.
It’s a bittersweet feeling because the site was on its two-year course to become a self-sustainable, full-time job. With my ancillary work, it was feasible this year. Not supporting-a-family-in-Los Angeles-feasible, but plenty workable in a two-income household. Of course, “feasible” doesn’t mean “healthy,” and with the travel I believed was necessary for the project to flourish, there just wasn’t the right balance between professional endeavors and family time. I’m indebted to my wife for supporting this as she grew her mental health practice, but she wasn’t the only one to shoulder the additional load. Another year of regular travel while also driving carpool and spending, on certain days, up to three hours in my car wasn’t an efficient use of time and added responsibilities to those in our orbit.
I’m not going anywhere. There’s more on tap. Thank you, Forum Club, for taking this journey with me.
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