Star Tribune to charge for Vikings content

As any major-market newspaper exec knows, few things move the online audience needle like NFL football. And that’s especially true when you’ve got a team many are picking to go to the Super Bowl. With that stage set, the Minneapolis Star Tribune is making a move to return a chunk of its Vikings coverage behind a pay wall.

MinnPost.com is reporting that the Strib will move some, but not all, of its content behind a pay wall "in a few weeks."

Other major markets - most notably Dallas - have made similar moves in the past. And it’s not the first time the Strib has done this. A simliar initiative in 2002 was deemed a failure after about 1,000 subscribers paid $30 each for coverage of a team that stumbled to a 6-10 record.

This time, though, the Strib is taking a more cautious approach. Only a portion of the Vikings content will be part of the premium package, which will cost somewhere in the neighborhood of a cup of good coffee. That way they can still use their base coverage to lure readers to the site, while using the premium coverage to generate revenue.

In recent years the NFL has placed heavier restrictions on the access to and use of its content by media outlets. If the Strib’s venture with paid-access to Vikings coverage proves successful, it will be interesting to watch the league’s reaction to see if they become even stingier with their product.