YOUR PREMIUM PASS TO FOOTBALL'S INNER SANCTUM
A biannual, large-format football magazine for readers who still study the game, remember its people, and keep its artifacts. Print-only. Limited-edition. Collector-grade.
Football
deserves more
than hot takes.
Gridiron Aficionado is a biannual, large-format football magazine — print-only, limited-edition, and built to be kept. Each issue collects the game’s overlooked histories, coaching intelligence, enduring rituals, and voices from inside the sport.
We slow the game down for serious fans, coaches, former players, and collectors. This is a journal for the details: the scheme behind the score, the town behind the rivalry, and the people who gave the game its permanent record.
“Not a feed. Not a fleeting take. A football artifact.”
Why Gridiron Aficionado
Exists
A candid note from Manny Matsakis on a lifetime in football, the state of sports media, and why this publication had to exist.
Begin with the reason we made it.
From high-school fields to college sidelines to publishing, the Founder’s Letter explains the conviction behind Gridiron Aficionado: serious football people deserve a place built for depth, memory, and respect.
Read the Founder’s Letter
The magazine: built to be
kept.
Designed for the shelf, the coffee table, and the return visit — not the scroll.
Aficionado
A heavyweight
volume with a long
memory.
Every issue brings together long-form reporting, coaching intelligence, photo essays, and conversations that outlast the news cycle. Numbered print runs, premium paper, and editorial work made to reward a second reading.
The conversation room.
Hosted by veteran coach and publisher Manny Matsakis, The Show carries the work beyond the page. Expect intelligent analysis, insider interviews, and stories about the game’s ideas, people, and traditions.
It is the conversation room of the brand: a place to listen, consider, and stay close to the community between print editions.
Learn About The ShowGet Kept.
A considered note on football, culture, and the work behind Gridiron Aficionado — delivered on Sundays for people who prefer the long view.
GRIDIRON AFICIONADO
Thoughts, stories and ideas.
© 2026 Gridiron Aficionado