Wisconsin Sports Network
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Wisconsin Sports Network is an integrated publishing company with a focus on student athletes, their communities, families, friends, fans and coaches within the Wisconsin prep scene. It was created in 2002 by Nicholas Kartos, who was joined soon after by Rick Hamilton. The company currently publishes three websites: WisHoops.net, WisFootball.net and WisSports.net. Wishoops.net launched on November 18, 2002 and quickly became a top resource for high school basketball information in the state of Wisconsin. The following year WisFootball.net, a high school football site, and WisSports.net, a general sports message board, were added.
Since its inception, WSN has also added coverage for boys and girls hockey, boys and girls track and field, baseball, softball, wrestling, and boys and girls swimming. Beginning in 2008, WSN published the official boys track and field honor roll for the Wisconsin Track Coaches Association.
In 2007 TDS Telecom purchased a majority ownership of WSN. In February of 2012, TDS completed a sale of the company to TST Media, a company best known for its NGIN website platform, which powers more than 3,000 leagues and sports organizations around the country, including WisSports.net.
Since 2002 WSN has accumulated:
- over 300 million page views
- 1,000,000+ unique IP addresses
- Bookmarked over 2,000,000 times
The beginning
The WSN franchise launched in August 2002, and soon became a leader in Wisconsin basketball coverage. Originally the network focused mostly on basketball, mainly gearing towards boys prep basketball but coverage of other types could be found as well. There was a subscription service, dubbed Courtside, that offered in-depth player ranking and extensive analysis into teams and conferences. The launch also featured a message board. The initial message board was limited in features. It offered forums for basketball and football, and dedicated forums for each conference in the WIAA minus the M&O conference due to improper usage.
Wishoops.net
Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook
The 2008-09 Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook is a resource for high school and college basketball in Wisconsin.
Features Include:
- Over 390 pages
- Fab 50 senior profiles
- Team previews of high school and college teams in the state
FSN-Game of the Week
Fox Sports Net North Wisconsin, Wishoops, Prepfilms.com and When We Were Young Productions teamed up to broadcast a prep basketball game each week. The game features a high profile match, usually some of the highest recruited players in the state.
Wisfootball.net
Wisfootball is Wishoops's football counterpart.
Starting with the 2006 prep football season, Wisfootball offered a subscription service appropriately called Sideline. The subscription service was ended in 2008 when all content became free and viewable to everyone. Much like Wishoops, Wisfootball offers player rankings, scouting reports, and team rankings as well as other featured articles.
Wisconsin Gridiron Guide
Now entering its fourth year, the Wisconsin Gridiron Guide contains much information about football in Wisconsin.
Features Include:
- Team profiles for every team including schedule, returning players and other team info
- Conference previews
- Fab 40 Seniors with profiles
- Upcoming Juniors and Sophomores
- 2007 State tournament recaps
- 2007 Stat leaders and all-time records
- Division 1, 2 & 3 college previews for every state team
The Gridiron Guide was not published in 2008, as all the same great content was moved to the website and WSN Illustrated.
Wisconsin Preps Illustrated
In January 2007 WSN hired Laura Ritchie and took on her publication, Wisconsin Preps Illustrated. The magazine was renamed WSN Illustrated. WSNi is a monthly publication that promotes student-athletes around the state of Wisconsin in a format that is new to the high school sports landscape. Articles featuring athletes and coaches are in depth and accompanied by glossy, close-up action photos. WSN Illustrated is published four times during the school year and is distributed free to all high schools across the state. The format of the magazine is an oversized glossy, full-color layout, similar in look to that of any national sports publication.