I'm surprised the Bears Org isn't having a parade

Chicoman

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One of their biggest critics is going out of business. (Sorry if posted, I searched, but didn't see on site)

http://www.profootballweekly.com/2013/05/31/pro-football-weekly-says-goodbye

PFW
Pro Football Weekly
top-story
Tweet Posted May 31, 2013 @ 6:08 p.m. ET
By Hub Arkush
This is the one piece I’ve spent part of my childhood and my entire adult life working to avoid having to write. But as I’ve come to learn repeatedly over the 46 years or so during which that effort has been ongoing, often at a significant price, you can’t win ‘em all. So, in my final act as the voice of Pro Football Weekly, it is time to say goodbye. Pro Football Weekly, as we’ve all known it since the first issue rolled off the press in late August of 1967, is no more.

The legal explanation of our demise is posted right here at ProFootballWeekly.com. Technically we were PRO FOOTBALL WEEKLY, LLC, a partnership, and contrary to popular perception, I have been neither the majority owner nor the managing partner for quite some time. I was the publisher/editor responsible for the day-to-day operation of the business, an employee with a minority interest in the partnership. That is probably irrelevant, though, as there really are no bad guys in this story.

Over the last five years our majority owner and each of the minority partners invested a tremendous amount of money, time and effort to try to build a bridge for PFW from the rapidly deteriorating world of old media to the new, exploding market of digital media and glitzy, new products. We built some truly great stuff that you all seemed to love, but try as we might, we couldn’t get enough of you to pay what it cost us to deliver it. There comes a time when there is just no more money to lose, and now we are forced to close the doors.

I understand there is a segment of our readership and of our vendors and suppliers to whom there is nothing I can say to ease your disappointment and, in some cases, even anger. But for whatever it can be worth, I would like you to know about the unbelievable effort, contributions and commitment of my co-workers here, all of whom have worked at greatly reduced pay and, at times, no pay at all for a very long time and under the most difficult of circumstances and pressures to avoid this outcome. I cannot thank them enough or find the words to adequately express how proud I am to have worked with them. I hope you will all keep a good thought for each of them as we all work now to remove their names from the rolls of the unemployed.

I would love to tell you all about the future if I could, but I’m as curious as anyone to see what’s next. Pro Football Weekly’s NFL Preview 2013 magazine and the Fantasy Football Guide 2013 will be available at your local newsstands on June 11 and June 25, respectively. The rights to publish and distribute those magazines were sold to help raise money for the “assignment for the benefit of the creditors,” and most of the old PFW staff and I wrote and edited them, so I believe you will find them to be equal to the old PFW standards. Beyond that the trustee is now accepting bids on all of the Pro Football Weekly assets, and it is my greatest hope that someone with the necessary resources will come along and attempt to revive PFW. I will continue to do anything and everything I can to assist in making that happen, but I’m afraid it is largely out of my control.

All I am left with is the goodbye I don’t know how to say. While I will continue to work as hard as I can to maintain relationships and the insider’s view of the NFL that comes with them, and on my broadcast work as well, not having the PFW pulpit to speak from is, as yet, still impossible for me to comprehend. All I have been able to figure out so far is that if this is, in fact, goodbye, there is one thing I need you all to know: You were always the most important part of everything we tried to do.

Clearly we’ve been blessed at PFW to get to work in pro football. Imagine getting to earn a living and support your family from our involvement in pro football and the NFL, the greatest game and entertainment in the world. There’s no way I could list all the incredible people from the owners to the coaches to the players and all the unbelievable front-office and support staff folks in the NFL who’ve given their time, assistance and friendship to PFW, or find a way to thank them.

In the 35 years that I have been the publisher/editor here, I have lived constantly in awe of the journalists we have been so blessed to work with. Almost every great pro football writer in the modern era has graced the pages of PFW, and the work of every single writer whose byline has appeared here has been undeniably brilliant. The pay was always small, when it came at all, and yet they almost never complained and all that most of them ever wanted to know was what they could do to help. They have to be the greatest fraternity in the world.

You have allowed us to be a family. My dad is the only hero I’ve ever had. He created Pro Football Weekly, and I got to work with him and we pursued a dream together. When he was taken from us far too young, my brothers and I came together and devoted our lives to making his dream a reality. We even met our wives here. And as you continued to read PFW and nourished the dream, we saw our kids come on board and we’ve been able to work side-by-side with them. For all of that we owe you more than we could ever say.

Most of all, Pro Football Weekly has always been about the fans, about you. In every single thing we’ve ever tried to do, and every decision we’ve made, we have always been guided by the desire to give you the best coverage of the NFL, to give you the most coverage of the NFL and to treat every important, sensitive and controversial issue from the perspective of what was best for the game’s fans. We’ve always wanted you to know how much we cared about you.

I don’t know how to say goodbye, but someday down the road, I’ll go to meet my dad again. Until I do, I’ll spend every day for the rest of my life praying that you heard me when I tried to say thanks. Thank you.
 

Alterego

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after 46 years, he should have a nice pension/retirement stockpiled....Arkush and Mariotti will be teeing off 4 days a week on the links
 

botfly10

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after 46 years, he should have a nice pension/retirement stockpiled....Arkush and Mariotti will be teeing off 4 days a week on the links

i don't know.... as far as I can see from this, it looks like they are at least 8 million in the hole:

Notice of PFW assignment for benefit of creditors

TAILWIND SERVICES LLC

TRUSTEE/ASSIGNEE FOR THE BENEFIT OF CREDITORS

NOTICE OF ASSIGNMENT FOR THE BENEFIT OF CREDITORS

PLEASE BE ADVISED that on May 9, 2013, Pro Football Weekly, LLC (“PFW”), an Illinois Limited Liability Corporation, initiated an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors to Tailwind Services, LLC (“Tailwind”), not individually, but solely as assignee. As the designated Assignee/Trustee under the Trust Agreement (the “Assignee”), Tailwind has accepted the Assignment and will act as the Assignee in this matter.

Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors

Pursuant to the Assignment, PFW conveyed all of its assets to Tailwind, not individually but solely as Assignee/Trustee, for the specific purpose of liquidating PFW’s assets for the highest and best price and distributing the proceeds to its creditors, in accordance with the priorities established by Illinois law. As Trustee/Assignee, Tailwind has a fiduciary duty to distribute the liquidation proceeds, less the costs of administration, first to creditors holding verified secured claims, second to administrative costs incurred in connection with the Assignment, and third to holders of priority tax and wage claims. All remaining funds will be distributed pro rata to all general trade and other unsecured creditors, including magazine subscribers.

Events Leading to Assignment

PFW is the owner and publisher of Pro Football Weekly, a magazine covering the National Football League, as well as annual supplementary publications covering the NFL draft and a fantasy football guide. Since the introduction of online publications, blogging and social media, PFW began to experience the same business headwinds that other publishers of traditional media had experienced. PFW attempted to address these issues by aggressively investing in digital assets, but these assets were never monetized to a degree necessary to stave off the erosion of its revenue. To avoid further erosion to its asset base, the shareholders and directors of PFW believed it was in the best interests of its creditors to cease business operations and initiate the Assignment.

Financial Information

Financial information for PFW based on information provided by PFW without audit or verification, (all figures are approximate) is as follows:


ASSETS LIABILITIES
CASH * $43,000 CORP. AND SH LOANS $7,000,000
ACCOUNTS REC. * 100,000 TRADE DEBT * 1,200,000
EQUIPMENT * **50,000 SUBSCRIP. CLAIMS **** 300,000
IP UNKNOWN

TOTAL * $193,000 TOTAL $8,500,000


http://www.profootballweekly.com/2013/05/31/notice-of-pfw-assignment-for-benefit-of-creditors
 
Last edited:

KittiesKorner

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a little maudlin
 

KittiesKorner

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"I'm taking my talents to the high seas for plunder and booty! Arrrrrr!!!"

588142.jpg
 

Teddy KGB

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Sometimes he was a fun listen. Say what you will about Arkush, but the magazine was a staple of Pro Football. To imagine how some people who loved the magazine feel, imagine if you found out Playboy was closing its doors for good? Sure, there's other stuff out there, but none that carry that legacy.

Anyway, in one sense I feel bad, and in another, this is all a part of business. Those who dont or cant adapt die in the business world, and the bigger you are, the bigger the blow when some form of technology becomes a gamechanger.
 

KittiesKorner

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Hub Arkush bet wrong on the Internets
 

cobbland

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Maybe Cam Newton and Geno Smith can pitch in to help them out.
 

cobbland

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Plus, Lindy's Sports annual "Pro Football Season Previews" have been much better as of late.

Last year's issue (for the Chicago area)

ad58478a9408ef3.jpg
 

KittiesKorner

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I never knew before that Hub owed his career to nepotism :D
 

Chicoman

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i don't know.... as far as I can see from this, it looks like they are at least 8 million in the hole:

Notice of PFW assignment for benefit of creditors

TAILWIND SERVICES LLC

TRUSTEE/ASSIGNEE FOR THE BENEFIT OF CREDITORS

NOTICE OF ASSIGNMENT FOR THE BENEFIT OF CREDITORS

PLEASE BE ADVISED that on May 9, 2013, Pro Football Weekly, LLC (“PFW”), an Illinois Limited Liability Corporation, initiated an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors to Tailwind Services, LLC (“Tailwind”), not individually, but solely as assignee. As the designated Assignee/Trustee under the Trust Agreement (the “Assignee”), Tailwind has accepted the Assignment and will act as the Assignee in this matter.

Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors

Pursuant to the Assignment, PFW conveyed all of its assets to Tailwind, not individually but solely as Assignee/Trustee, for the specific purpose of liquidating PFW’s assets for the highest and best price and distributing the proceeds to its creditors, in accordance with the priorities established by Illinois law. As Trustee/Assignee, Tailwind has a fiduciary duty to distribute the liquidation proceeds, less the costs of administration, first to creditors holding verified secured claims, second to administrative costs incurred in connection with the Assignment, and third to holders of priority tax and wage claims. All remaining funds will be distributed pro rata to all general trade and other unsecured creditors, including magazine subscribers.

Events Leading to Assignment

PFW is the owner and publisher of Pro Football Weekly, a magazine covering the National Football League, as well as annual supplementary publications covering the NFL draft and a fantasy football guide. Since the introduction of online publications, blogging and social media, PFW began to experience the same business headwinds that other publishers of traditional media had experienced. PFW attempted to address these issues by aggressively investing in digital assets, but these assets were never monetized to a degree necessary to stave off the erosion of its revenue. To avoid further erosion to its asset base, the shareholders and directors of PFW believed it was in the best interests of its creditors to cease business operations and initiate the Assignment.

Financial Information

Financial information for PFW based on information provided by PFW without audit or verification, (all figures are approximate) is as follows:


ASSETS LIABILITIES
CASH * $43,000 CORP. AND SH LOANS $7,000,000
ACCOUNTS REC. * 100,000 TRADE DEBT * 1,200,000
EQUIPMENT * **50,000 SUBSCRIP. CLAIMS **** 300,000
IP UNKNOWN

TOTAL * $193,000 TOTAL $8,500,000


http://www.profootballweekly.com/2013/05/31/notice-of-pfw-assignment-for-benefit-of-creditors

..it's an llc. His personal finances are protected, he'll be fine. His creditors are out of a buttload of cash, but hub and son are good to go. If it was a sole proprietorship then he'd be f'd.
 

hyatt151

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One of their biggest critics is going out of business. (Sorry if posted, I searched, but didn't see on site)

http://www.profootballweekly.com/2013/05/31/pro-football-weekly-says-goodbye

PFW
Pro Football Weekly
top-story
Tweet Posted May 31, 2013 @ 6:08 p.m. ET
By Hub Arkush
This is the one piece I’ve spent part of my childhood and my entire adult life working to avoid having to write. But as I’ve come to learn repeatedly over the 46 years or so during which that effort has been ongoing, often at a significant price, you can’t win ‘em all. So, in my final act as the voice of Pro Football Weekly, it is time to say goodbye. Pro Football Weekly, as we’ve all known it since the first issue rolled off the press in late August of 1967, is no more.

The legal explanation of our demise is posted right here at ProFootballWeekly.com. Technically we were PRO FOOTBALL WEEKLY, LLC, a partnership, and contrary to popular perception, I have been neither the majority owner nor the managing partner for quite some time. I was the publisher/editor responsible for the day-to-day operation of the business, an employee with a minority interest in the partnership. That is probably irrelevant, though, as there really are no bad guys in this story.

Over the last five years our majority owner and each of the minority partners invested a tremendous amount of money, time and effort to try to build a bridge for PFW from the rapidly deteriorating world of old media to the new, exploding market of digital media and glitzy, new products. We built some truly great stuff that you all seemed to love, but try as we might, we couldn’t get enough of you to pay what it cost us to deliver it. There comes a time when there is just no more money to lose, and now we are forced to close the doors.

I understand there is a segment of our readership and of our vendors and suppliers to whom there is nothing I can say to ease your disappointment and, in some cases, even anger. But for whatever it can be worth, I would like you to know about the unbelievable effort, contributions and commitment of my co-workers here, all of whom have worked at greatly reduced pay and, at times, no pay at all for a very long time and under the most difficult of circumstances and pressures to avoid this outcome. I cannot thank them enough or find the words to adequately express how proud I am to have worked with them. I hope you will all keep a good thought for each of them as we all work now to remove their names from the rolls of the unemployed.

I would love to tell you all about the future if I could, but I’m as curious as anyone to see what’s next. Pro Football Weekly’s NFL Preview 2013 magazine and the Fantasy Football Guide 2013 will be available at your local newsstands on June 11 and June 25, respectively. The rights to publish and distribute those magazines were sold to help raise money for the “assignment for the benefit of the creditors,” and most of the old PFW staff and I wrote and edited them, so I believe you will find them to be equal to the old PFW standards. Beyond that the trustee is now accepting bids on all of the Pro Football Weekly assets, and it is my greatest hope that someone with the necessary resources will come along and attempt to revive PFW. I will continue to do anything and everything I can to assist in making that happen, but I’m afraid it is largely out of my control.

All I am left with is the goodbye I don’t know how to say. While I will continue to work as hard as I can to maintain relationships and the insider’s view of the NFL that comes with them, and on my broadcast work as well, not having the PFW pulpit to speak from is, as yet, still impossible for me to comprehend. All I have been able to figure out so far is that if this is, in fact, goodbye, there is one thing I need you all to know: You were always the most important part of everything we tried to do.

Clearly we’ve been blessed at PFW to get to work in pro football. Imagine getting to earn a living and support your family from our involvement in pro football and the NFL, the greatest game and entertainment in the world. There’s no way I could list all the incredible people from the owners to the coaches to the players and all the unbelievable front-office and support staff folks in the NFL who’ve given their time, assistance and friendship to PFW, or find a way to thank them.

In the 35 years that I have been the publisher/editor here, I have lived constantly in awe of the journalists we have been so blessed to work with. Almost every great pro football writer in the modern era has graced the pages of PFW, and the work of every single writer whose byline has appeared here has been undeniably brilliant. The pay was always small, when it came at all, and yet they almost never complained and all that most of them ever wanted to know was what they could do to help. They have to be the greatest fraternity in the world.

You have allowed us to be a family. My dad is the only hero I’ve ever had. He created Pro Football Weekly, and I got to work with him and we pursued a dream together. When he was taken from us far too young, my brothers and I came together and devoted our lives to making his dream a reality. We even met our wives here. And as you continued to read PFW and nourished the dream, we saw our kids come on board and we’ve been able to work side-by-side with them. For all of that we owe you more than we could ever say.

Most of all, Pro Football Weekly has always been about the fans, about you. In every single thing we’ve ever tried to do, and every decision we’ve made, we have always been guided by the desire to give you the best coverage of the NFL, to give you the most coverage of the NFL and to treat every important, sensitive and controversial issue from the perspective of what was best for the game’s fans. We’ve always wanted you to know how much we cared about you.

I don’t know how to say goodbye, but someday down the road, I’ll go to meet my dad again. Until I do, I’ll spend every day for the rest of my life praying that you heard me when I tried to say thanks. Thank you.

Did they pull another bankrupcy job? 2nd time if so, lost my subscription with 3 years remaining in the 80`s, so screw you Hub. :bigfinger:
 

botfly10

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Its a shame for all their employees, but hub is still a douche. The last couple years, his segments on the score have been bordering on pathological.
 

number51

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My favorite teams
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Pre-internet PFW the the best source of NFL info out there. Every year for decades my parents got me a subscription with the draft guide, for my birthday. When all that content became available for free on the internet I told my parents to stop getting me PFW, they were bummed because of the tradition aspect. It was also tough to explain the internet to them.

There should be no comparison between Hub and Marriotti. Marriotti is a total low life scumbag, the worst you can say about Hub is you disagree with him.
 

botfly10

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Pre-internet PFW the the best source of NFL info out there. Every year for decades my parents got me a subscription with the draft guide, for my birthday. When all that content became available for free on the internet I told my parents to stop getting me PFW, they were bummed because of the tradition aspect. It was also tough to explain the internet to them.

There should be no comparison between Hub and Marriotti. Marriotti is a total low life scumbag, the worst you can say about Hub is you disagree with him.

Agree Mariotti is a whole other level...

But the bias Hub had against the bears went a little beyond disagreement.
 

FirstTimer

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Did they pull another bankrupcy job? 2nd time if so, lost my subscription with 3 years remaining in the 80`s, so screw you Hub. :bigfinger:

I think you need to read the article.
 

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