The Lincolnshire Echo has closed its Saturday Sports Echo after 76 years of publication and is launching a website in its place.
The move is part of a series of sports websites being launched by the regional press, the first of which was in Hull, containing video and interactive content. Other sites are being launched in Grimsby and Scunthorpe.
Sportsecho.co.uk is due to launch on Monday, covering news on the title’s main football teams, Lincoln City and Boston United as well as other sports.
The closure of the sports newspaper reflects a trend sweeping the regional press as online competition increases and fewer Saturday fixtures hit sales and render weekly print titles more irrelevant.
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Echo sports editor John Pakey said: ‘Like all the other sports papers, you have to consider its place in the market. The way games are played throughout the week now – rather than all on a Saturday [has affected the title]. You can check the score at half time on your mobile phone now. It’s sad to see it go, but the website is taking up the baton.
‘Our coverage is going to be local, so we are providing a very important service to the people of the area. BBC Radio Lincolnshire has a different intention than we have, and while Lincoln City has its own website, we can offer our own independent views without toeing the club line.’There will be no redundancies as a result of the closure.
Other papers to shut their weekly sports titles are the South Wales Echo, the Newcastle Journal and the Bristol Evening Post.
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