Enterprise Journalism Put Yahoo! Sports on the Map, But MMA Coverage Keeps it There

There’s a nice piece by Poynter’s Bill Krueger about the rise of Yahoo! Sports to Internet prominence. Krueger credits a devotion to enterprise journalism and breaking a series of huge stories about Reggie Bush and his family accepting gifts and cash from agents while he was still in college at USC, as the stuff that put Yahoo! on the map. And while that is true, and Krueger’s story is a good read, it leaves out a major factor in Yahoo! Sports’ success–the site’s dedication to covering mixed martial arts.

MMA is almost indisputably the fastest growing sport in America. Even my crappy gym in Glendale has MMA classes for kids. There’s a massive interest in the sport–and yet, even now, major players in the sports media refuse to cover MMA events. You’ll read a piece or two in the local daily if a fight comes to town, and the big sports mags will occasionally run a feature, but Yahoo! Sports is the only major sports media outlet to cover MMA on a daily basis. Even ESPN barely touches MMA. And as the sport has risen, so has Yahoo! Sports.

Yahoo!’s MMA coverage is by no means perfect–it routinely slants in favor of the UFC brand–but it’s there, it’s routine and it treats the sport with respect. The site routinely sends its star columnist Dan Wetzel to cover MMA events. And that, apparently, is enough for millions of MMA fans–fans who might have been persuaded to buy newspapers if the sports sections of every major daily in the country hadn’t been so blind to a clearly growing phenomenon.

The dailies made and continue to make a huge mistake by not taking MMA seriously. Now Yahoo! has carved out that niche, and any newspaper that wants to compete is probably going to have to hire at least staffer or two to devote coverage to MMA to even touch Yahoo!’s foothold.

Like Krueger writes, Yahoo!’s enterprise journalism may have put it on the map, but its cultural fluency keeps it there.

H/T LA Observed

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