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Sometimes a professional athlete has the vision to look beyond their career, realizing there is more to life beyond the gridiron, hardwood or diamond. When that athlete also happens to be a budding sports magazine publisher, the same vision can be used to humanize the game, the average sports figure and their lives. Enter Ryan McNeil, who has relied on his skills as a former all-pro defensive back to be the defense for the athlete in their post-playing career. Through his humanizing of the athlete and the post-retirement lives they lead, his magazine, Overtime, has caught the attention of many, including yours truly.
I recently had the opportunity to speak with McNeil, OT's Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. Among other things, I asked him why he chose a magazine as the avenue to reach his audience.
"Probably because a television show would be too expensive and a newspaper wouldn't probably quite get it," said McNeil. "We had an online print version that wasn't penetrating, but I looked around and saw what was happening and what my peers and colleagues were reading on a daily basis. Understanding what their lifestyle is, I had to adjust to that, and a publication was the easiest and most efficient thing to do. At the end of the day it really made sense to fill this huge void."
But McNeil didn't enter this venture thinking it would be easily done. A decade of lining up opposite the NFL's greatest wide receivers was mere practice for the risky business of the magazine industry.
"I was well aware of what the potential could be in terms of the good and bad, and being a defensive back, you're always known to take chances and big risks and it made sense," said McNeil.
These risks were the very thing that drove McNeil, an admittedly self-motivated individual. The need to challenge himself, as well as his experiences as a professional athlete combined to form a magazine with content different from most sports titles on the market today. OT takes its content beyond the lifestyle and leisure pieces to include features about business and money, and charity and community. The goal is to be unique.
"We always wanted to do something different," said McNeil. "I always looked at myself as a whole person and not just an athlete, and the books that were out there, or had been attempted, only touched on the surface stuff and not the full, complete picture. I knew anything I had done, or anything that I was going to do, had to tell a complete picture. We wanted to go deeper, and I think when we did that, people got it right away, and it was appreciated. That's really been our formula. We're not going to stray too far from it."
And so far, that formula has worked for the nearly two-year-old publication. Since its launch in June of 2004, OT has caught the eye of not only professional athletes but also the everyday fan. For the 21st century spectator, simply seeing their sports heroes on the field isn't enough.
"To me that's what's surprising. It's not that the athletes that have an affinity for the product, but also the general fan. Most people see us on Sundays. And hopefully, if all goes well, we played at our best. Sometimes things don't happen; you don't play your best, and there are reasons for it. There's a difference between winning and losing - mentally, physically, emotionally - and that's the side that fans don't see. Surprising enough, a fan wants every piece of us. They don't want to just see us on Sundays. They want to see us more and more and more."
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