Back then: Play's first issue, in 2006, featured a cover photo of skier Bode Miller.
The magazine’s staff was mostly freelance, including editor Mark Bryant, who helped launch the title in 2006. Kira Pollack was Play’s photo editor. The magazine was conceived as a spin-off of The New York Times Magazine as another way to target affluent readers.
Bryan told Mediabistro’s Fishbowl NY blog that Play was breaking even, but a manager at the Times had a different story.
“It was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars over several years and when you’re not going to see that turn around, that’s the problem,” editorial director Gerry Marzorati said in an interview with The New York Observer.
The hard advertising climate has claimed several magazine titles in recent weeks, though none related to sports. However, the downturn has been especially hard on newspapers.
Photographers who shot for Play included freelancers like Vincent Laforet (who shot NFLer Bret Favre for the most recent issue), James Hill, Danielle Levitt, Finlay Mackay and others.
In August, Play published a single-sponsor issue timed with the Beijing Olympics; all of the ads were paid for by The Nielsen Company, which owns PDN.
Play was a finalist for general excellence in the 2008 National Magazine Awards.
Related story
Feb. 3, 2006: NYT Sports Magazine Launches Sunday
