Steve Maich has just scored a professional touchdown. And a home run. And a penalty kick.
The lifelong sports fan and longtime Rogers Publishing Limited executive has just been named publisher and editor-in-chief of Sportsnet, a soon-to-launch Rogers magazine tied-in with its television property of the same name.
Maich will lead the editorial direction of Sportsnet and be responsible for its operational and strategic business elements.
Promoted as Canada’s first national bi-weekly sports magazine, Sportsnet will covers sports from a Canadian perspective. The editorial coverage will include both long-form journalism and shorter point-of-view pieces.
There is also a strong emphasis on quality design. A release states “Pages will be injected with spirit, stunning photography, emotion and sex appeal.”
The announcement about Maich’s appointment was made Wednesday afternoon by Rogers Publishing executive vice-president Ken Whyte. “Steve has a deep knowledge of the brand, great enthusiasm for the subject matter and a wonderful understanding of the Canadian spirit in sport,” said Whyte.
Maich has been with the company for seven years. He was most recently group publisher of Canadian Business, Profit and MoneySense magazines. He was also editor-in-chief of Canadian Business. Prior to that, he was executive editor of Maclean’s.
Filling the roles and responsibilities left vacant by Maich’s move, James Cowan will serve as interim editor at Canadian Business, while Julie Osborne, deputy publisher of Maclean’s, will add Canadian Business, Profit, and MoneySense to her roster on an interim basis. Ian Portsmouth and Duncan Hood stay on as editors of Profit and MoneySense, respectively.
Maich has covered sports in his past: in 2008, he won a silver National Magazine Award award for a Maclean’s story called “The Concussion Time Bomb.” It told the tale of retired athletes who’d suffered brain injuries.
Sportsnet will launch in late September with a circulation of 100,000 copies. It will publish 26 times a year and expands the Sportsnet brand to a fourth platform (in addition to television, radio and digital).
Rogers Publishing (which also publishes Marketing) is operated by Rogers Media, a division of Rogers Communications.
