By Michael Adams
Austin Sports Journal
I’m happy to say I’m back to feeling well after a short hiatus. My blood pressure is under control and I’m ready to take the Austin Sports Journal to its next level in 2025.
And boy, there is a lot to look forward to in the new year.
I learned a lot in 2024, but it didn’t come without challenges. After all, I was a one-man show until recently. You might have noticed a new byline on the website – Kelly Marshall.
Kelly started in November as my part-time editorial assistant primarily handling social media strategy. She will start managing the weekly newsletter and do some multimedia content in 2025. Kelly is still getting her feet wet, but she is eager to learn and has a level of enthusiasm that is unmatched. I’m looking forward to watching her grow in the next year.
Speaking of growth, I spent a lot of time the last couple of weeks putting together goals for 2025, a budget for the year, looking back at 2024 wins, and gathering end of year data.
I kept a running list of wins and achieved goals along with challenges and missed opportunities throughout 2024. The win that stood out the most was that ASJ’s audience growth from the beginning of the year to December was more than I projected.
A lot more.
Just in December, the ASJ had an audience reach of 250,000 people. That means ASJ content was in front of 250,000 potential new readers. That number was 22,000 in January 2024.
There are plenty of other wins to celebrate, but I’m more focused on how I can improve the Austin Sports Journal in 2025 and our areas of growth. That’s where the missed opportunities list comes in handy.
Before I get into what’s coming in the new year, you may notice a few style changes.
The big one is that the ASJ will no longer use “girls” or “boys” when referring to specific sports, such as basketball or soccer for example. Instead, our style moving forward will be to use “women’s” and “men’s.”
High school athletes undergo significant physical, emotional and mental development during their high school career. As athletes progress through high school, the level of competition becomes much more intense. Using “men and women” reflects the dedication needed to compete at this high level and aligns more closely with how they’ll be referred to in college.
Here are more exciting things coming in 2025 at the Austin Sports Journal:
Coverage expansion
One of the goals of the Austin Sports Journal from the very beginning was to increase our reach all over Central Texas.
We added Llano to our coverage area in the fall, and then Lexington during the football playoffs. Both have proved to be highly engaged communities.
I’m expanding into Comal County in 2025 and adding New Braunfels, Canyon, Canyon Lake, Davenport and Pieper varsity athletics to our coverage zone. Rockdale will also be added. This brings our total to 74 high schools.
Rest assured, the Austin Sports Journal’s primary focus will continue to be the core of the Austin area, but expanding our reach to areas where we get a significant amount of traffic from calls for the addition is good for our growth and makes us more attractive to advertisers.
Content quality
This is one area I think we can really improve. Instead of traditional game coverage throughout a regular season, the Austin Sports Journal will focus its content direction on the story within the story. That means you can expect more features, athlete profiles and more multimedia content.
We will still provide final scores, standings, rankings and players of the week throughout regular seasons, but traditional game coverage will be reserved for playoffs and state-level events.
Two new features you can expect in 2025 is the return of the “On the Sidelines with Michael” podcast and a regular feature called “Small-Town Showcase.”
“On the Sidelines with Michael” will be reborn on Jan. 9 exclusively on the Austin Sports Journal’s YouTube channel. Each week I’ll bring you interviews, highlights, analysis and more.
The Small-Town Showcase will be a regular feature (hopefully weekly) about an athlete from one of the outlying small schools around the Austin area. There’s a lot of great athletic talent hidden in these small towns that goes unnoticed. This will be a great way to highlight that and introduce our readers to them.
Special publications
Special publications are a great resource for advertisers to reach a targeted audience. They are also a good revenue generator. I still believe these types of publications have a place in this digital world we live in, so I’m going to expand the offerings.
The 2024 Volleyball Preview was such an enormous success in 2024. It will return in 2025 along with our football preview.
The 2025 Volleyball Preview will be bigger and better. There will be a college section to include previews of the upcoming college season and preview all major Division I programs in Texas.
That’s not all.
The Austin Sports Journal will produce three new quarterly publications in 2025, which includes a Health & Fitness Guide in April, the ASJ’s High School Sports Awards in June and a Spring Sports preview in December. The Spring Sports Preview will preview the 2026 area soccer, baseball, softball and track and field seasons.
As we look ahead to 2025, I am filled with excitement and optimism for the future of the Austin Sports Journal. Thank you for your continued support, and here’s to a fantastic year ahead!
