Nissan Sport Magazine--RIP

So it was finally announced in the last day or so that Nissan Sport Magazine has come to a sad end.

The magazine at which I had been acting as a Senior Editor (in truth more of a writer and content provider) has now closed its doors and "merged" with Grassroots Motorsports Magazine.  As it stated in the email that went out to all subscribers and others who had signed up to follow the magazine, its some 5000 subscribers will receive Grassroots Motorsports Magazine in place of Nissan Sport Magazine for the remainder of their subscriptions.

I was not an owner or controller of the magazine but had been involved in one way or another for a few years now.  I only found out about the closing of the magazine a couple weeks ago myself when my boss at the magazine, David Muramoto, informed me that the article I had just sent was not needed.  We didn't really get into specifics but it was obvious that he and other more senior members of the magazine staff had been funding operations out of their own pocket for some time and it just had gotten to the point where things did not look like they were going to turn around in terms of advertising or subscriber revenues.  The magazine was once carried on the shelves of Borders and Barnes & Noble but in recent periods this ceased, likely as a cost cutting measure, eliminating any wasted expenses for printed issues not purchased.

Its truly a shame as the magazine was a great source of info in a Nissan information starved world.  Honda's have their successful magazines, VW as well.  Why not Nissan?  Maybe Nissan Sport should have stayed focused on Z vehicles, afterall, the magazine did start out as a Z only publication, only later to branch out into Nissans (and Infinitis) in general.  Still, I have a hard time finding fault with providing MORE coverage of the various models out there as certainly you open yourself up to a larger audience.  You'd have to look at the subscription and advertising revenue to go into more detail here and I'm not at all privy to that info.

Maybe someday, someone will restart a Nissan focused magazine as there is certainly enough heritage and enthusiasm for the brand (I think at least) to support at least a small time, focused publication (be it in print or online only).  Perhaps its time will come again.  For now?  It leaves me with a bit of sadness not to be writing the "In the Dirt" quarterly update on how Nissan vehicles and drivers are performing in "dirt" oriented motorsports around the world, so at the very least I hope to continue that regular feature here, as I did a couple weeks back printing the "In the Dirt" that would have been published in the next issue of Nissan Sport, on this site and will do so in the future as well.  Thanks.