By Hawk Fanatic

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Five years.

That’s how long Hawk Fanatic has been providing free Hawkeye content.

Actually, now it’s been slightly more than five years since Hawk Fanatic was launched in June 2020, and right smack in the middle of the global pandemic.

Hawk Fanatic is extremely proud to be the only Hawkeye website, or news outlet for that matter, that offers free content while covering the Iowa football team and the Iowa men’s and women’s basketball teams on a beat basis.

Hawk Fanatic also writes articles on Iowa’s other sports teams, and again, it’s all free.

No subscription.

No online clutter or distractions.

Just click and read.

It isn’t easy doing it this way, but Hawk Fanatic has shown that relying on local advertising and sponsorships to pay the bills rather than subscriptions and programmatic advertising can be a successful business model.

And while it is tempting to use programmatic ads since Hawk Fanatic has been told that it would provide a nice monthly payment based on our growing traffic, there is also something to be said for having content that is free and easy to read with no annoying pop-up ads.

Hawk Fanatic is committed to making this business model work because relying on community support for advertising is sort of the old-fashioned way of conducting business, and sometimes, the old-fashioned way is the best way.

Advertisers and sponsors benefit from being on a free platform that drives heavy traffic – Hawk Fanatic has averaged about 1.6 million page views in each of the past two years – while the readers benefit from getting free content with virtually no distractions.

Hawk Fanatic also has one of the most extensive and diverse podcast platforms.

From the KCJJ radio show that airs three times a week and converts to a podcast to Rob Howe’s podcasts on recruiting, social issues and Iowa men’s basketball history, Hawk Fanatic gives its listeners a variety of topics.

While so many podcasts feature two or three media personalities talking with or over each other, Hawk Fanatic prefers to have former UI athletes and coaches as guests, because unlike the media, these people have been there and done it.

The original Hawk Fanatic podcast account was recently suspended by Spotify apparently due to two music copyright violations from two podcasts that aired in 2021.

We have since launched a new account on Spotify and apologize the the inconvenience.

Hawk Fanatic would like to thank all of our advertisers and sponsors, because without them, it would be impossible to provide free Hawkeye coverage.

Hawk Fanatic would also like to thank Vortex Business Solutions from Iowa City for building and hosting our website, and all the content providers who have produced the copy along the way.

Hawk Fanatic is excited about the upcoming 2025-2026 Hawkeye sports calendar year, and we appreciate that Iowa Athletics gives us press credentials.

From what looks to be another promising Iowa football season to Ben McCollum’s debut season as the new Iowa men’s basketball coach to year two under Iowa women’s basketball coach Jan Jensen; there is plenty to be excited about.

Hawk Fanatic looks forward to covering all the excitement, for free, of course.

Our readers can make a donation to Hawk Fanatic by using the link on our frontpage.

But there is no expectation to do so, nor would we ever start pushing for donations.

As for any new potential advertisers, give Hawk Fanatic some consideration because we drive a lot of traffic and our rates are very fair and reasonable based on what the advertiser gets in return.

And remember, our content is free, which means our readers see the ads and sponsorships without having to get a subscription, and without having to sort through pop-up ads.

Just click and read.

For free.

Happy 4th of July from Hawk Fanatic