Enough with Kansas City, already...

One of the angles repeated throughout the online hockey community in the wake of the Letter of Intent signed yesterday in Nashville is that with Boots Del Biaggio on board, it's only a matter of time before the local boys sell out to him and the franchise relocates to Kansas City, since Del Biaggio has a deal in place with Anschutz Entertainment Group to bring an NHL team there.

Check out this line from this morning's Tennessean. It almost looks like a throwaway detail at the end of the article, but if true, should quash most of that talk:

Assuming the bid of the local group is approved by the NHL, Del Biaggio will divest his interests in San Jose.

He also will cut his ties with AEG, but Del Biaggio said he'll continue to push for a hockey team in Kansas City.

Will that finally get the hockey media off the "Preds are moving" track?

Celebrating a milestone month

I've been remiss in providing regular updates on my quest to turn this whole sports-blogging hobby into at least something of a significant side income, if not a career, but good news has a way of prompting action. That, and I've been heads-down busy working on a few different fronts to push things forward...

Social Media, Internet Marketing, and Real, Paying Customers - it really works!

Applying the basic tenets of internet marketing (SEO best practices and social media network building) have helped me grow the readership and engagement over at On The Forecheck tremendously in recent years, but lately I've been wondering if those same techniques could be applied to small- or medium-sized local businesses, to help them drive real, tangible business results. I'm talking about not just drawing idle hockey fans looking to a blog so they can muse over line combinations, but helping businesses connect with potential customers in ways that otherwise wouldn't occur. Recently, I was able to help make just such a thing happen, and it shows just how great the opportunities are for small, local businesses which may not have the resources or skills available to extend their brand effectively on the internet.

New directions for OTF

While my writings about the Nashville Predators are being posted over at OnTheForecheck.com, rather than this old site, I thought it might be worth touching base here every now and again to touch on "meta" issues, related to blogging in general. In particular, these days I'm very much interested in how I can turn this time-consuming hobby into a bit of a revenue generator. Since I receive a small stipend from SB Nation to run OTF, I declared that income on my taxes last year, and realized that I should also be recording my expenses (for example, parking fees downtown when I go to cover a practice or press conference, mileage, etc.). It was a bit of a reality slap to see exactly how much I was spending on this endeavor, and with 3 kids heading off to college in 9-10 years, there's a bit of a financial imperative to turn the tables there. So here's a few ideas I'm considering/pursuing: A website devoted to hockey gear and accessories, HockeyGearHQ.com . The idea...

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