Why We Do What We Do and Other Questions About AP

Occasionally, we get emails from folks asking why we do what we do on AP.  Yesterday, someone asked me a few questions for a grad school paper they were working on in a business and media course.

For those interested, here's what I said.

Why do you write for Arrowhead Pride?

Well, it started as something to do for fun. Who doesn't like talking about football all day?  After a while, we started to attract a few hundred readers a day, then a few thousand, then tens of thousands and so on. 

It became more business oriented but we still do it because it's fun. 

Clearly, your readers are Chiefs fans. Do you notice any other common features or tendencies among your readers?

The common link is the Chiefs, you're right. 

We do seem to have quite a few readers outside of Kansas City.  That's because they're not inundated with all the local coverage of the team so Arrowhead Pride provides an umbrella of Chiefs information for them.  Most of the readers are fans, as I said, but I'd say the majority of them fall in the "die-hard" category.  Checking into Arrowhead Pride multiple times a day, which a lot of our readers do, shows a real dedication to the team.

What would you consider the vision of Arrow Head Pride? 

To provide the most comprehensive coverage of the Kansas City Chiefs.  And, with our recent issuance of press credentials, to bring our readers places with the Chiefs they've never been. 

How does Arrow Head Pride's vision in with the vision of SB Nation?

It fits in perfectly.  SB Nation is for the fans and by the fans. You'll notice all SB Nation writers are also fans of their respective teams.

What is your main source of competition? How do you differentiate yourself from content on the Chiefs NFL site? 

We never really viewed anyone as "competition".  We're not out there measuring our page views and coverage against, say the Kansas City Star. The Star does an awesome job, in my opinion, and we're lucky to have them talking Chiefs.  And then you add Bob Gretz and Josh Looney to make a really great group of writers, with unique perspectives, talking Chiefs.

The more people talking Chiefs, the better, is the way we've always looked at it.

However, we're offering a more comprehensive view of the Chiefs than anyone else in the industry. Traditional media outlets have word counts and space constraints to worry about.  With our set-up, we can write as long as we want and as often as we want and can point everyone in the direction of the best stories on the web about the Chiefs. 

It only benefits the reader, which is our biggest advantage. 

Plus, we've got a huge community that is encouraged to participate by writing their own posts or sharing other good stories so the package we offer isn't matched by anyone. 

However, reading Chiefs news isn't a zero sum game.  Chiefs fans will read about their team, regardless of where it is, I think.  So, coming to a place like Arrowhead Pride where we bring everyone's views into one place, is ideal for the reader.

What advantages does being part of SB Nation hold for Arrow Head Pride?

Without SB Nation, Arrowhead Pride wouldn't be where it is today, that's for sure. Because of some of the tech geniuses, SB Nation has the best platform on the web (in my opinion) and have content partnerships with major media outlets like Yahoo! Sports, CBS Sports and USA Today. 

In addition to that, having over 200 writers available to us at all times helps us bounce ideas off of each other to determine what works and what doesn't.