Coffin Corner Volume 41 Number 3

[Ken Crippen]

The latest issue of "The Coffin Corner" is now available for immediate download from the Members Only section of the PFRA website. The issue includes:

"PFRA-ternizing." An update on the candidates and deadlines for PFRA elective offices in 2019, the official announcement of the weekend of June 18–21, 2020 for the PFRA Convention in Canton next year and birthday wishes for the PFRA at 40.

"Official 2018 Hall of Very Good Ballot." Note that the deadline for voting is October 31, 2019.

"Present at the Creation: An Interview with Joe Horrigan on the Founding of the PFRA" by Ken Crippen. The retiring executive director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame speaks on the founding of the organization and his memories of those early days of the PFRA and those who were at that first meeting in Canton, Ohio.

"The Battle of the Decade: The 40th Anniversary of Super Bowl XIII" by J. Brian Ross. A look back at the 1979 Cowboys vs. Steelers rematch of Super Bowl X that would become the most-watched sporting event in television history at the time and a key moment in deciding the NFL team of the Seventies.

"The Modern Stadium Explosion: From the 1960s to the Present" by Patrick Gallivan. A brief history of the era of multi-purpose and football stadium construction that began with the Houston Astrodome in 1962 and including the NFL stadiums that opened in this decade.

[TodMaher]

I do agree with Joe Horrigan. Having everything on the PFRA website (including the Forum) locked up so no one can see it needs to change.

[JWL]

I do agree with Joe Horrigan. Having everything on the PFRA website (including the Forum) locked up so no one can see it needs to change.

I have had people interested in my games with no touchdowns article and I cannot send a link. I have had to print the article or simply show them a physical copy of that issue. This has particularly been tough for those who don't live near me. I had to mail them copies.

[Ken Crippen]

I do agree with Joe Horrigan. Having everything on the PFRA website (including the Forum) locked up so no one can see it needs to change.

What is your plan to make up for the revenue shortfall that you would get with the dramatic drop in membership when everything is free? It has already been proven that if it was free, people would not join. That was proven many years ago when the linescores were first put into the MO section. There was a sharp increase in membership immediately. The reason is simple: why pay for it? You are getting it for free.

We need that revenue to keep the lights on (like the forum and website). That would have to be replaced. We could plaster ads all over the website and forum, but that would be negligible revenue. We are publishing books, but that is already part of the budget. We have ad revenue from CC, but we do not want to take more space out of CC to add more advertisements. That is also already part of the budget.

I am always open to suggestions, but none of the suggestions (or combination of suggestions) I have heard to date or have thought of myself would make up for the shortfall that you would see by making it free. We are looking at branded merchandise. However, that will help to some extent, but would not come close to making up for the shortfall.

Of course people are going to want everything for free. However, that is not a sustainable business model that will keep the doors open.

[JWL]

^ Okay, that makes sense.

Maybe it is possible to have one Coffin Corner issue available for free as a sample. That could maybe help some people decide to become members.

[Ken Crippen]

^ Okay, that makes sense.

Maybe it is possible to have one Coffin Corner issue available for free as a sample. That could maybe help some people decide to become members.

Every issue prior to 2006 is available for free. We could consider having a more recent issue available for free.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Ken, I thought I read someplace that the CC issues are public after 2 years. I guess I must be thinking of something else, but I do think its a good idea - doesn't have to be 2 years - just a suitable waiting period. 2006 is a long time. I like the idea of them being available because when people Google something, I think its good for PFRA when the relevant CC article comes up. Otherwise they may just use Wikipedia or something less accurate.

I didn't think the forum was locked - I think you have to sign up to post, but that's standard. I'd actually go the other direction with the forum and make it members only to post with public viewing - might increase membership (if you want to join in the discussion, then join PFRA). Doesn't seem unreasonable.

[Ronfitch]

I do agree with Joe Horrigan. Having everything on the PFRA website (including the Forum) locked up so no one can see it needs to change.

I have long thought that the forum needs to go back to being publicly accessible to read, without an account required).

That is how I found all y'all - I was looking to the answer to something on my mind and Google took me to a PRFA Forum thread discussing that topic (this was the old forum). Saw names of authors I knew posting there and knew I found a treasure. Was not long before I created a forum ID so I could post. Was not long after that that I joined PRFA.

In my mind, having the forums publicly viewable is the best marketing PRFA could have (again). The very people we want are the people searching Google for information posted within the threads here, by some of the foremost researchers and writers in the field (and folks like me).

[Rupert Patrick]

Ken, I thought I read someplace that the CC issues are public after 2 years. I guess I must be thinking of something else, but I do think its a good idea - doesn't have to be 2 years - just a suitable waiting period. 2006 is a long time. I like the idea of them being available because when people Google something, I think its good for PFRA when the relevant CC article comes up. Otherwise they may just use Wikipedia or something less accurate.

I didn't think the forum was locked - I think you have to sign up to post, but that's standard. I'd actually go the other direction with the forum and make it members only to post with public viewing - might increase membership (if you want to join in the discussion, then join PFRA). Doesn't seem unreasonable.

The forum is locked; I tried to get into the forum thru my ipad without logging into PFRA and can't get in.

I think opening up the forums might be worth a try to entice people to join (perhaps dropping the wall or a portion of the wall - Coffin Corner archives only - for a day to show them what is back there is not a bad idea), but I do think making everything in Members Only free is a problem because we are a non-profit.

One way to drive membership is to work some sort of deal with McFarland concerning a discount on McFarland books (10 percent? I don't know) due to your PFRA membership, because people like to get these kinds of perks. Would I pay an extra five dollars on my PFRA membership for this perk? Absolutely.

Another option might be in making each issue of Coffin Corner available to non-PFRA members thru a pdf download, I have no idea what that would cost, let's say five dollars an issue for the sake of discussion. Or perhaps making one article in each Coffin Corner available on the free side, to try to get people to want to subscribe to see the whole thing.

I don't like the idea of making it all open and free, because i worry we'll lose what we've worked so hard to build here.

[TanksAndSpartans]

Rupert, I just did a similar experiment - I switched to private browsing and the forum wasn't available (since I wasn't logged in). I didn't realize that - I guess I was thinking back to when I first discovered the forum myself.

I would agree with $5 or so per pdf for the new CCs. If you find yourself buying a bunch, then may as well just join to get all of them.