Times Calls A Halt To The Game For Summer Break

The Times has announced a break in publication for its weekly football supplement, The Game, replacing it with a series of special publications dedicated to a number of different sports.

Topics covered by the interim titles will range from Open Golf to Test Cricket and Glorious Goodwood, kicking off on Monday 5 July with a special supplement devoted entirely to motor sport.

TheGame returns to the paper on 2 August to coincide with the start of the football season. However, it will celebrate its second anniversary of providing comprehensive coverage for football fans next month.

Keith Blackmore, head of sport at The Times, said: “One of the strengths of TheGame is that it allows us to combine detailed coverage with witty and provocative commentary and analysis. He added: “Our aim is to bring these qualities to a series of dedicated sporting supplements covering everything from motor sport to test cricket which will replace TheGame during its hiatus.”

Last month the Times secured a deal with Kelvin MacKenzie’s talkSPORT which saw the speech-based radio station’s flagship drivetime programme rebranded as The Game to promote the newspaper’s sport supplement (see Times Secures Talksport For Football Partnership).

The latest ABC results for the six months to May 2004 show that The Times saw its circulation decline by 1% year on year to just under the 653,000 mark, down from 659,292 in the same period the previous year.

The Times: 020 7782 5000 www.timesonline.co.uk

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