Petersen Buys Sports Afield to Return to Publishing

Hearst Corp. has sold its struggling Sports Afield outdoor magazine to publishing industry veteran Robert E. Petersen, founder and former chairman of Los Angeles-based Petersen Publishing Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Hearst previously had said the magazine would be sold to a company “more focused on niche publications.”

The deal marks a return to magazines for Petersen, who sold his publishing interests in 1996. Petersen plans to move the 113-year-old publication’s office to the San Fernando Valley from New York. In June, Sports Afield will refocus its editorial content on hunting and fishing, abandoning a previous foray into covering such topics as photography, hiking and outdoor cooking.

Petersen, founder of the Petersen Automotive Museum, also operates a jet charter service in Van Nuys and a real estate investment company in Beverly Hills. The publishing firm he founded in 1948 now is known as EMAP Petersen Inc., which publishes more than 160 titles, including Guns & Ammo.

Former Petersen Publishing executive Ken Elliott, will serve as the magazine’s president. Only a few of the magazine’s dozen or so employees are expected to move to Los Angeles when the shift occurs later this year, and a new editor in chief will be named later this month.

Petersen hopes to jump-start circulation and bolster advertising revenue by returning the magazine to “its original grass roots niche format . . . [with] a strong focus on comprehensive hunting and fishing coverage.”

Sports Afield reported 456,378 paid subscribers on June 30, 1999. The magazine’s average paid circulation has fallen from 507,800 in 1994. Some other outdoor magazines that target mainly male hunters and fishermen also have seen circulation fall since 1994.

Market leader Field & Stream, owned by Times Mirror Co., publisher of The Times, has maintained its average circulation at 1.7 million for the past three years. Outdoor Life, another Times Mirror Magazines publication, has maintained an average circulation of about 1.3 million since 1995.

Competitors question whether Petersen and Elliott will be able to breathe new life into the magazine. While Sports Afield has continued to cover hunting and fishing, the magazine also expanded coverage of other outdoor interests in a bid to keep the magazine relevant to younger consumers.

“You can’t play Ping-Pong with a magazine, and that’s what Sports Afield has been doing,” said Jason E. Klein, president of Times Mirror Magazines. “Twenty years ago, Sports Afield had a great franchise, but they’ve got a tough road ahead of them.”

Elliott acknowledged that Sports Afield’s recent editorial approach has “damaged the title, damaged what had been an icon in terms of the quality of writing and coverage. The title once was the most respected in the outdoor field.”

Klein maintained that the appetite for hunting and fishing magazines remains strong--both among consumers and advertisers. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service figures suggest that sportsmen spent $72.6 billion on their sports in 1996. An estimated 50 million Americans hold fishing licenses, and 20 million have hunting licenses.