Sports on Earth writers and editors laid off

[CD Boogie]

Similarly, Grantland has some great material, but could it survive without full subsidy by ESPN?

That's the $100,000 question. And I think we all know the answer.

Of course not. Although I could see ESPN keeping on some of the NBA writers.

I see it staying around awhile, even a good while. Grantland may not generate much cash yet it's a pretty large society suckling on ESPN's teat. It hung around after the big splash and built itself. Would love to see the metrics. At any rate, ESPN would be foolish to drive those eyes away.

ESPN still operates under the "All Your Sports Are Belong to ESPN" mold.

Grantland survived. Grantland isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

Does ESPN "The Mag" turn a profit? I'm thinking highly doubtful and it's just
around to promote the ESPN brand and drive people to the sports that
ESPN is putting money behind.

I understand from people who work there that it does not make a profit.

Sports on Earth had some truly talented journalists, and oddly enough they're keeping lukewarm Leitch, who might be the least talented of any of them. None of his writing moves the needle or advances the conversation, which is probably why they're keeping him on to carry the water for the "father-son MLB" narrative that he seems to enjoy.

Hruby is one of the most talented, wide-ranging sports journalists in the game. Not sure why he didn't move from Page 2 right into Grantland. And why did writers like Jay Caspian Kang (now writing for The New Yorker) and Michael Weinreb (was writing for SOE) move on from Grantland? And when is Chuck Klosterman going to stop dispensing advice to senior citizens in flyover country, who must be the target audience nowadays for The Ethicist?

Grantland has some great content, albeit weighted down with Hollywood Prospectus and a lot of other things I have no interest in reading. Meanwhile I haven't read too many articles on 538 that have justified its placement on the front page of ESPN.com. I don't think the crossover audience is there for 538 on a website that largely caters to 18-34 year old males. The content seems too sophisticated and egg-headed to gain a foothold there. It's nice that they're trying to perhaps exhort younger readers to engage with that kind of intelligent, numbers-driven content, but ESPN is as middlebrow as it gets and the two just seem like an odd marriage.

No clue what kind of numbers 538 is doing, but would be interested to know.

 

[Schottey]

1) I feel like a lot of shade is being thrown at SoE as an online startup, but with Gannett people running the biz side and ultimately the Gannett cuts/restructure being the reason SoE was largely shuttered (because their papers weren't turning a profit either) this doesn't really seem like an entirely "new" media problem to me.

In fact, it's notable that the truly new media part of Gannett/USA Today (ForTheWin) is remaining intact—so far, at least.

2) So much focus is being put on the fantastic talent at SoE, but this is most likely a story about the "behind-the-camera" people there. Without knowing exactly went on, bad management, unfocused direction, poor ad sales, inept social/search strategy, etc are all things that can deep-six a website regardless of the talent.

3) Sites like SoE/The Classical/SB Nation Longform/etc (maybe even Grantland) are always going to be loss-leaders because you're paying premium dollars for content that you're admitting is going to take longer to produce. In terms of the art of the profession, we all love a place that can pay $1,000 for a lengthy column which is a month away, but if that same $1,000 and month produces 10 columns that's always going to make more business sense.

You can have the latter without the former and deep-six your reputation, and you can have the former without the latter and hope the money holds up. Places that aren't even trying to find the right balance between the two just seem like poor business.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

Sports on Earth was promoted terribly. They had great writers there, but I don't think that many people knew about it.

I think most of the writers there will be snapped up pretty quickly. But, you hate to see something like this.

It's always hard to believe when Gannett can colossally **** something up.

I think a big reason Grantland has done as well as it has is the non-sports stuff.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

The thing with 538 is everybody knows there will be a giant rise in views next year and especially the year after. The question becomes, can it be profitable enough in the year leading up to a presidential election and the year of a presidential election to maintain it during the two "off" years and I tend to think the answer is yes.

 

[CD Boogie]

The thing with 538 is everybody knows there will be a giant rise in views next year and especially the year after. The question becomes, can it be profitable enough in the year leading up to a presidential election and the year of a presidential election to maintain it during the two "off" years and I tend to think the answer is yes.

That's a good point about the election cycle. So I guess I'll enjoy the site once every four years.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

The thing with 538 is everybody knows there will be a giant rise in views next year and especially the year after. The question becomes, can it be profitable enough in the year leading up to a presidential election and the year of a presidential election to maintain it during the two "off" years and I tend to think the answer is yes.

That's a good point about the election cycle. So I guess I'll enjoy the site once every four years.

There is probably roughly 18 months where 538 and Real Clear Politics are cited constantly in most major papers or on most major websites. 538 gained so much credibility during the last election that it's hard to imagine it's not going to be the go-to place for political junkies at roughly this time next year.

 

[3_Octave_Fart]

How Leitch kept his job over all the jettisoned talent is a good question.
He isn't terrible, but he isn't good either.
He's as interesting as your average Cardinals fan.

 

[Boom_70]

538/ Grantland/ Sports On Earth - the problem is there is just not enough
time in a day to consitantly go to those sites and read all the content.

It takes a big commitment. For the most part SJ is my clearing house for Grantland.
I usually go there when someone links an article that they deem interesting.

I still don't really get the ESPN / 538 connection. Is 538 a sports site for 3 years
and then on the 4th year morphs into a political site?

 

[Jake_Taylor]

Cardinals fans can be verrrrrry interesting.

https://twitter.com/BestFansStLouis

 

[GAPrintDino]

Agree with what most of you are saying. If you're going to run a profitable, successful online venture these days, at least in a long-term sense, there needs to be a mix between high-end (longform, opportunity investment, etc.) content and - because I lack a better term and not sure what the print industry equivalent is - daily production line content.

Anything that ONLY features premium or novel-length content better have some other financial anchor. I hesitate to ever offer any sentiments like "the dumbing down of digital readership"...but let's face it, the only longforms to consistently attract eyeballs are usually investigatory journalism features.

Writing high-brow, longform as SOE and Grantland are apt to do needs to be balanced with something else usually, or else you're solely relying on your masthead being so very interesting that audience will invest time based on your casting card alone.

 

[Boom_70]

During NFL season Mike Tanier is definitely one of my go to writers.

 

[GAPrintDino]

During NFL season Mike Tanier is definitely one of my go to writers.

The only "bright side", though it's silly to call it that, to any of this is that I see a name like that and I have zero doubt he'll be employed elsewhere before NFL season begins. Assuming he was one of the cuts? If not, admittedly it may be a bit easier for him :)

But the point remains: if you are a recognizable personal brand, you will find gainful employment. So best to always keep that brand relevant.

It helps to be good enough to have that brand presence, of course. So I wouldn't know; I'm just a middle-aged man rambling!

 

[Boom_70]

During NFL season Mike Tanier is definitely one of my go to writers.

The only "bright side", though it's silly to call it that, to any of this is that I see a name like that and I have zero doubt he'll be employed elsewhere before NFL season begins. Assuming he was one of the cuts? If not, admittedly it may be a bit easier for him :)

But the point remains: if you are a recognizable personal brand, you will find gainful employment. So best to always keep that brand relevant.

It helps to be good enough to have that brand presence, of course. So I wouldn't know; I'm just a middle-aged man rambling!

I thought I read that Tanier still had a job but agree that he would get gobbled
up right away.

He would be a good fit at MMQB although "The King" might
feel threatened.

 

[GAPrintDino]

During NFL season Mike Tanier is definitely one of my go to writers.

The only "bright side", though it's silly to call it that, to any of this is that I see a name like that and I have zero doubt he'll be employed elsewhere before NFL season begins. Assuming he was one of the cuts? If not, admittedly it may be a bit easier for him :)

But the point remains: if you are a recognizable personal brand, you will find gainful employment. So best to always keep that brand relevant.

It helps to be good enough to have that brand presence, of course. So I wouldn't know; I'm just a middle-aged man rambling!

I thought I read that Tanier still had a job but agree that he would get gobbled
up right away.

He would be a good fit at MMQB although "The King" might
feel threatened.

Actually brings up a good point - where do most of these writers go? I suppose I mean SOE layoffs specifically, but generally, just these recognizable brand names who have built their value based on independent blogs then SOE-type ventures.

There was a time when the WWL was a slam-dunk but honestly from what I seem to hear, and this is just from the circle I hear it from, not professing to have total knowledge, ESPN just isn't a very welcoming prospect anymore unless you're REALLY chasing that paycheck and they're committed to pay. Know more than a few folks who have been turned off by their "we don't care what interests you, here's the gig, take it or leave it now" attitude.

Yahoo is obviously toast, unless anything has changed recently. SI is always a possibility, but most of these writers are MMQB types and I wonder how political Peter King is when he staffs that. Even as-is, it's not like they have a huge writer roster.

I'm stumped on where you land without changing your expectations or style entirely. Maybe I'm just pessimistic though.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

For people like Hruby, Culpepper and Tanier, among others, places find spots for guys like that.

It was like when Trotter was let go by SI. People were contacting him about jobs almost immediately.

 

[Pancamo]

During NFL season Mike Tanier is definitely one of my go to writers.

The only "bright side", though it's silly to call it that, to any of this is that I see a name like that and I have zero doubt he'll be employed elsewhere before NFL season begins. Assuming he was one of the cuts? If not, admittedly it may be a bit easier for him :)

But the point remains: if you are a recognizable personal brand, you will find gainful employment. So best to always keep that brand relevant.

It helps to be good enough to have that brand presence, of course. So I wouldn't know; I'm just a middle-aged man rambling!

I thought I read that Tanier still had a job but agree that he would get gobbled
up right away.

He would be a good fit at MMQB although "The King" might
feel threatened.

Does MMQB make money?

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

During NFL season Mike Tanier is definitely one of my go to writers.

The only "bright side", though it's silly to call it that, to any of this is that I see a name like that and I have zero doubt he'll be employed elsewhere before NFL season begins. Assuming he was one of the cuts? If not, admittedly it may be a bit easier for him :)

But the point remains: if you are a recognizable personal brand, you will find gainful employment. So best to always keep that brand relevant.

It helps to be good enough to have that brand presence, of course. So I wouldn't know; I'm just a middle-aged man rambling!

I thought I read that Tanier still had a job but agree that he would get gobbled
up right away.

He would be a good fit at MMQB although "The King" might
feel threatened.

Does MMQB make money?

I can't imagine that it doesn't. Friends who have worked there said the MMQB column would routinely get more clicks in a week than Nos. 2-10 on the site in a normal week. Not sure if that's still the case now, but that was the case a few years ago and I think MMQB has gotten even more popular since then. It's also not like MMQB has a Grantland-sized stable of writers.

 

[GAPrintDino]

During NFL season Mike Tanier is definitely one of my go to writers.

The only "bright side", though it's silly to call it that, to any of this is that I see a name like that and I have zero doubt he'll be employed elsewhere before NFL season begins. Assuming he was one of the cuts? If not, admittedly it may be a bit easier for him :)

But the point remains: if you are a recognizable personal brand, you will find gainful employment. So best to always keep that brand relevant.

It helps to be good enough to have that brand presence, of course. So I wouldn't know; I'm just a middle-aged man rambling!

I thought I read that Tanier still had a job but agree that he would get gobbled
up right away.

He would be a good fit at MMQB although "The King" might
feel threatened.

Does MMQB make money?

I can't imagine that it doesn't. Friends who have worked there said the MMQB column would routinely get more clicks in a week than Nos. 2-10 on the site in a normal week. Not sure if that's still the case now, but that was the case a few years ago and I think MMQB has gotten even more popular since then. It's also not like MMQB has a Grantland-sized stable of writers.

Not only that, but how expensive could MMQB's writers really be? Obviously King commands a lot of $ I'm sure, but that's absolute market price and he's the face/chief/brains/brawn/everything. I'm sure Bedard isn't cheap. But meaning no disrespect to their talent, because they are very talented and deserve to be compensated for it, I don't think anyone else is really breaking the bank there.

Could be completely wrong, and maybe they're just well-compensated out of principle. But given some of their publishing schedules - believe some only publish 1 or 2 columns per week at most - I have to think some are freelancers and MMQB isn't exactly sinking a full-time salary into them.

 

[RecoveringJournalist]

I think the staff is just King, Bedard, Vrentas and Klemko. I'm don't think anyone else writes only for the site unless it's on a freelance basis.

I'm not sure if Bedard, Vrentas or Klemko write regularly for the magazine. I think Bedard has had a couple things in the magazine, but I don't read it as often as I used to.

 

[GAPrintDino]

I think the staff is just King, Bedard, Vrentas and Klemko. I'm don't think anyone else writes only for the site unless it's on a freelance basis.

I'm not sure if Bedard, Vrentas or Klemko write regularly for the magazine. I think Bedard has had a couple things in the magazine, but I don't read it as often as I used to.

Is Benoit still writing for them? Maybe unrelated to the exact question at hand, just curious.

But yeah that's still a small core contingent, and I still don't know that Klemko is a major name - not a knock on him or his ability, just still relatively new to the scene - so I expect that operation is fairly cost-efficient. Probably pays for itself with the actual MMQB column itself. Anything else is just icing on top.

Good for them, now that I think about it. That's the way to do it.