Online version of
2007 LET'S
PLAY SOFTBALL/LET’S PLAY BASEBALL MEDIA KIT
Let's Play Softball newspaper has been Minnesota's
exclusive source for softball news since 1987.
Now in its ninteenth year, Let's Play Softball is the most
comprehensive softball publication in the Midwest, reporting on men's and
women's slow- and fast-pitch softball at all age levels.
New three seasons ago was the incorporation
of Let's Play Baseball into every issue giving extensive coverage to
Published nine times annually by Let's
Play, Inc., Let's Play Softball and Let's Play Baseball keeps a pulse
on the bustling Minnesota softball and baseball scene — from March's preseason
chatter until the climax of national tournament time in September.
Presently, softball is the No. 1 team participation sport in the country, and Minnesota boasts more than 14,000 teams, ranking it sixth in the United States in number of registered teams.
Because softball is a sport played by
people of all ages, Let's Play Softball/Let’s Play Baseball attracts an
extraordinarily diverse readership, from
pre-teen youth softball to Masters Over 50 leagues. Let's Play
Softball/Let’s Play Baseball is
where fans turn to get their softball news.
There are 70,000 active youth baseball
players in Minnesota - players register with several state-wide organizations
including Metro Baseball, Minnesota Youth Althletic Services, Babe Ruth,
American Legion, Little League, VFW, Mickey Mantle, Cal Ripken, and AABC. The
Minnesota Twins Community Fund promotes baseball in Minneapolis and St. Paul
with the Rookie League and RBI.
Each issue of Let's Play Softball/Let's
Play Baseball has something for everyone — from the hard-core, elite-level
player to the casual recreational participant.
Insightful columns, tournament results, team rankings, player
profiles and a complete regional tournament calendar make Let's Play
Softball and Let's Play Baseball a highly informative, entertaining
newspaper.
CIRCULATION
In 2004, Let's Play
Softball/Let's Play Baseball experienced a
year of success that paralleled the state of softball and baseball in
Similarly, the United States Slow-pitch
Softball Association (USSSA) saw Minnesota's team registrations go up in the
last couple years, getting close to the 6,000 mark, a trend that has continued
for years. In addition, the Amateur
Softball Association (ASA) had 8,380 registered teams in Minnesota in 2001, a
number that maintains Minnesota ranking seventh in the nation in number of
players.
With more than 20,000 teams registered in Minnesota alone and
up to 15 rostered players on each team, the growth potential for Let's Play
Softball/Let's Play Baseball among the state’s 210,000 softball players and
70,000 active youth baseball players is virtually unlimited.
Here is how our
distribution works:
Controlled distribution is done in three ways:
1. Individual paid subscriptions
2. Bulk delivery to regular advertisers: sporting goods stores,
batting cages, sports bars.
3. Bulk subscription delivery to various outlets: bars, restaurants, softball
complexes.
Delivery breakdown:
* Twin cities Metro Area (bulk delivery): 80%
* Minnesota Outstate (UPS delivery): 15%
* Individual subscriptions: 5%
About three-fourths of
distribution is in the heavily populated Twin Cities Metro Area.
RATE CARD
Following are Let’s
Play Softball/Let’s Play Baseball ad rates, per ad cost, effective
|
Black & White |
Frequency 1x |
Frequency 2-5x |
Frequency 6-8x |
Frequency 9-12x |
|
Full page (64 inches) |
$873.60 |
$739.20 |
$631.68 |
$537.60 |
|
Half page (32 inches) |
$436.80 |
$369.60 |
$315.84 |
$268.80 |
|
Junior page (30 inches) |
$409.50 |
$346.50 |
$296.10 |
$252.00 |
|
Quarter page (16 inches) |
$218.40 |
$184.80 |
$157.92 |
$134.40 |
|
Eighth page (8 inches) |
$109.20 |
$92.40 |
$78.96 |
$67.20 |
|
Twelfth page (6 inches) |
$81.90 |
$69.30 |
$59.22 |
$50.40 |
|
Sixteenth page (4 inches) |
$54.60 |
$46.20 |
$39.48 |
$33.60 |
|
Column inch cost |
$13.65 |
$11.55 |
$9.87 |
$8.40 |
Advertising flexibility (actual ad space width x depth):
* Full page = 10 1/8 inches wide x 16 inches high
* Half page = 10 1/8 inches wide x 8 inches high or 5 inches wide x 16 inches
high
* Junior page = 7 1/2 inches wide x 10 inches high
* Quarter page = 5 inches wide x 8 inches high or 2 3/8 inches wide x 16 inches
high
* Eighth page = 5 inches wide x 4 inches high
* Twelfth page = 5 inches wide x 3 inches high
* Sixteenth page = 2 3/8 inches wide x 4 inches high
Classified advertising
Let's Play Softball/Let's Play Baseball also accepts
classified advertisements which appear in the paper's Classified Ads section. Rates are 50 cents per word with a $25
minimum. LPS/LPB can create your
classified ad for you in-house on its desktop publishing system or you may
supply us with a camera-ready advertisement.
Tournament Calendar
Let's Play Softball's/Let's Play Baseball's regional
Tournament Calendar is the best way for Tournament Directors to promote their
upcoming tournaments. In it's 20 years,
LPS has assisted in filling up hundreds of softball tournaments throughout the
state and beyond. For a $25 fee per listing,
LPS/LPB will publish any softball or baseball tournament in it's calendar.
Color
rates
Color is available
in full to half-page sizes. Placement of
color ads is subject to printer's requirements.
Color rates are $95 per color (rates exclude color separations of
four-color advertisements).
Advertising
Production Specifications
• Art work: Closing date for
art work, allowing time for approval, is the Friday preceding publication.
• Ads on disk or via electronic transfer: Please call (612)
729-0023 to inform us about your ad's format and submit no less than one week
ahead of deadline to insure that we can output properly.
• Prefered Files: 1) PDF, 2) EPS
(Encapsulated PostScript) and 3) TIFF (Tagged Image File Format). Camera ready
ads will no longer be accepted.
Ad Design
At Let's Play Softball/Let's Play Baseball we
utilize the most advanced desktop publishing system available today to produce
each issue. Our Pagemaker 7.0 software increases overall productivity and
greatly expands our creative capabilities.
This allows us to design and create eye-catching ads for our
customers. For the additional cost of
just $25 per hour, LPS/LPB can create an ad for you that gets your product noticed. Most one-color ads take less than an hour to
create.
Please send all film and
artwork to Let’s Play Softball/Let’s Play Baseball,
To download the full Let’s Play Softball/Let’s Play Baseball
newspaper media kit, click here*
*Application in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.
Don't
have Acrobat Reader? Click the logo to the right 
.