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Layoffs Hit Sports Illustrated

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Sports Illustrated is laying off five staffers today, a source with knowledge of the situation tells The Big Lead. Unauthorized to speak publicly on the matter, the source requested anonymity.

SI’s parent company, Time Inc., missed earnings badly this week, sending their stock price down from above $15 a share to below $13 a share; earlier this year company leadership turned down an offer to be acquired for $18 a share.

Some of the names will be recognizable to readers, and will impact college sports coverage. However, SI does plan to announce new hires in the coming months, the source said. This post will be updated when names are confirmed.

[UPDATE: Seth Davis confirmed to The Big Lead that he was one of the staffers laid off. Davis had been with SI since 1995. “I have not an ounce of regret or bitterness. This is the way the industry is headed. SI is a great place with great people.” Davis said that he plans to continue writing.]

In this industry, as we have learned time and again, most recently with ESPN, layoffs are an unfortunate byproduct. We wish the best for everybody at SI who is impacted by these job losses.


The One and Done Phenomenon Marginalizes College Basketball Coverage

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In the last month, two of the most recognizable national college basketball writers have been laid off: Andy Katz from ESPN, and Seth Davis from Sports Illustrated. They had been with their respective outlets for nearly 40 years combined. You can bet that this news is shaking NCAA institutions, as they wonder who will cover their sport, and for how much longer.

David Worlock, NCAA Director of Media Coordination and Statistics, provided the following statement to The Big Lead on the recent moves:

The cutbacks are certainly concerning, as the coverage of college sports and issues will suffer with the loss of experienced and fair writers from ESPN and Sports Illustrated. We’re hopeful these talented journalists are able to find an opportunity to continue covering collegiate athletics.

College basketball is, of course, not dying. The NCAA Tournament television contract with CBS and Turner runs through 2032, at roughly a billion dollars a year. Fans will continue to follow their alma mater and/or the teams they grew up rooting for, provided those schools maintain competitiveness. However, a lack of star-power in the sport, as well as conference realignment that prioritized football over basketball, have been quite damaging, at least insofar as people are interested in clicking on stories that involve teams that are not their own.

In last year’s NBA Draft, the first three picks — Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram, and Jaylen Brown — were one-and-done’s. Just eight of the 30 players selected in the first round played at least three years in college. This past season, if things were like how the sport was 25+ years ago, Karl-Anthony Towns, D'Angelo Russell, Jahil Okafor, Justise Winslow, Myles Turner, Trey Lyles, and Devin Booker would have been juniors. Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Joel Embiid, Aaron Gordon, Julius Randle, Noah Vonleh, Zach LaVine, James Young, and Tyler Ennis would have been seniors.

None of this is to say that these young men should not have left school to pursue considerable fortunes, nor that they should have been prevented from becoming professionals until after their junior year as is the case in football. Nevertheless, you’d be a lot more inclined to move traffic meters on college basketball stories in months not named March if those names above were in the headlines.

The movement toward one-and-dones – and before that, straight-to-pro moves – over the last two decades also has another impact. It puts the star players, who have less time to develop an audience and familiarity at the college level, in the hands of a few teams. Kentucky and Duke dominate recruiting, and they have constant churn on the roster and bring in new McDonald’s All-Americans. That doesn’t always translate to ultimate success on the court, assimilating that young talent over the course of a few months, but it has a trickle down. Add in the continuing foreign player influx (where fewer players from other countries go the Hakeem Olajuwon or Detlef Schrempf route of 30 years ago, and go to college in the U.S.), and fewer fanbases have stars to root for.

LEXINGTON, KY – FEBRUARY 14: John Calipari the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats gives instructions to his team against the Tennessee Volunteers at Rupp Arena on February 14, 2017 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Over the last three drafts, we’ve averaged 15 foreign draft picks, and 32 different schools represented. Compare that to the drafts from 1984 to 1986, when the first 60 picks came from an average of 47 different schools. The 1986 draft, for example, had players from 17 different schools in the first 17 picks. Having the star players more concentrated at a select few schools makes there less of a need for specialists who know dozens of programs inside and out.

The other factor in this, which does not get brought up as often, is conference realignment. This was done to optimize football, and old college basketball rivalries fell by the wayside. For example, Missouri joined the SEC and gets great football matchups, but gone is its heated basketball rivalry with Kansas. The Big East, which fueled so many great storylines in the 80’s and 90’s, essentially disbanded.

With regard to the one-and-done’s, it’s not as though there is nothing the NCAA could do. Buoyed by the March Madness television money, they could make a good deal more financial incentives available to players, so the decision between staying in school and leaving for the pros for a year is not such a no-brainer. Or, at the very least, they could allow endorsement deals, which would be available in disproportion to star players, which could conceivably keep some of them around longer.

Outlets like ESPN and Sports Illustrated aren’t going to cede college basketball coverage altogether, but the institutional knowledge of people like Andy Katz and Seth Davis would be more valuable to them to retain if there were more year-round interest in the sport.

Frank Deford Was a Giant Gentleman

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There is no shortage of Frank Deford tributes, both published and on social media, and you wouldn’t see quite this outpouring of love for the man and his work if he were merely arguably the greatest sportswriter of all-time. The depth, breadth, and empathy of his writing certainly deserves all of the lauding it’s receiving in the sports media community, but what’s especially striking is that his profound accomplishments were combined with being what was by all accounts a splendid human.

“Writers have egos — it’s part of what makes them good — I guess Frank had an ego, but you could never sense it in any interaction with him,” says Vince Doria, the former sports editor of the Boston Globe and ESPN’s director of news who was a senior editor at The National, the short-lived daily sports newspaper that Deford spearheaded in the early 1990’s. “He was as sweet and gentle a man as there is. People just were attracted to the guy. Physically, he was this tall, suave intellect with an Ivy League education. Not your typical sportswriter.”

“Yet, he was as accessible, as welcoming, as you could possibly imagine,” Doria continues. “I think people were so struck by the fact that this guy who was a legend was as down to Earth as you could possibly imagine. People wanted to work for him. The people he attracted there — the roster was amazing; yes, people were paid well. There’s no doubt that was part of it — but people left great jobs at great newspapers. It was because of the Frank Deford attraction.”

The legendary sportswriter Dave Kindred, who wrote for The National, also has very fond memories. “He was just an uncommonly decent guy,” he says. “As good as he was, as acclaimed as he was, he never moved with airs about him. He walked among us. He was a giant among us sportswriters, but he never lorded it over anyone. He never big-timed anybody. He had time for everybody.”

“That was his gift as a storyteller too,” Kindred continues. “People liked him instantly, and he was a smart guy. He knew what worked for him and he knew how to get people to talk. He was just a great journalist. More than a sportswriter. Not that I’m denigrating sportswriters, but he was a great journalist. He was a great observer of detail. He had great insight into people’s psyches. But he wrote it all simply. He used probably more clichés in his writing than anybody of great stature ever did, but they always worked for him. They always fit perfectly with whatever the tone of the story was. He didn’t try to wow you. He was not a stylist the way that Dan Jenkins or Jim Murray is, but he was a great thinker and he had great structure to the stories he told.”

Doria and Kindred both have had pieces that Deford wrote decades ago for Sports Illustrated stick with them. For Doria, The Boxer and the Blonde, about the former boxer Billy Conn — “who won the girl he loved but lost the best fight ever” — had impeccable sensibility. For Kindred, it was the story of Bob Knight.

“He did a piece on Bobby Knight, who I had written about more than probably anybody, and when I read his piece he had it just right,” says Kindred. “He had a great knack for taking complex ideas and making them simple. What he did with Knight, calling him the rabbit hunter, was note that he got all the big things right but would get the little things wrong. I also remember him talking about how Knight had a dimple. It was the kind of detail that he would notice and you’d look at Knight in a different way after reading that. After I saw the Knight piece, I ran into Deford and told him I thought the story was great. He said, ‘I think the guy needs help, and I was willing to help him.’ And that was his subtext to the story he wrote. That’s not in the story, but that was why he wrote it the way he did.”

A couple years ago, Kindred recommended that I read the book Deford wrote about his daughter Alex, who tragically died at the age of eight after a battle with cystic fibrosis. I bought it at the time, but have still yet to be able to bear even opening it. “I’m using this word knowingly and intentionally — I think that book was divinely inspired,” Kindred says today. “No one else could have written that book. I suggested that book to dozens of friends and no one could even read it. The mere thought of that was so painful that people couldn’t read it. And here was the guy, to whom it happened, who actually wrote it. If he wrote nothing else in his life, that book will stand for all time.”

One thing that surprised me about Deford was that because his final copies were so pristine I had always assumed he just typed them up that way, that it would all flow out of him in one immaculate draft. Haven’t you thought that? But, I learned from Vince Doria that Deford was quite amenable to the editing process.

“When I dealt with Frank at The National, and obviously he wasn’t writing there as frequently as otherwise, what struck me about him was how receptive he was to editing,” Doria says. “I had the sense of Frank Deford that he just sat down at a typewriter and magic came out. But I don’t think it came as easily as it read. His writing has been described a lot of ways, but graceful is certainly a term, and I think it lends to that sense that it flowed easily. I don’t think that it did. In fact, I would read some of his original versions and they needed some editing. But, with just the right touch of editing, they became that much more impactful. He respected it, and I think expected and appreciated it.”

One cliché in life is to never meet your idols, but when you look at the outpouring of current and former SI staffers who had relationships with him it’s clear that Deford was an exception to the rule:

Richard Deitsch wrote a piece, noting that as a special projects editor about a decade ago he would put together roundtables of SI magazine writers to contribute thoughts to SI.com. At this time, though the publications were under the same banner, they were largely separate entities. Yet Deford, a living legend with thousands of things going on in print, TV, and radio, never turned him down. “Once I had Deford, I was able to use him as my chip,” Deitsch writes. “If anyone started saying they didn’t want to write, I could mention something along the lines of, “Frank F—ing Deford is writing so you can too.”

Deford’s collection of profiles, The World’s Tallest Midget, is entitled as such because the sportswriting genre was, as he put it, “disparaged.” We’ve all heard the sports section referred to as the toy department. Deford was not only tall in stature; his work was widely heralded, but there would be backhanded compliments about his stories, or other meaningful work from sportswriters. “Patronizing critics,” as he called them, would characterize those pieces as “not really about sports” or “different from sportswriting.”

Whatever you want to call it, Deford prolifically produced literature for a half-century, and it had a profound impact on countless readers and writers. Perhaps as importantly to those impacted, Deford was astoundingly accessible.

Pete Thamel Likely Leaving Sports Illustrated for Yahoo

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Pete Thamel is expected to leave Sports Illustrated for Yahoo Sports, two sources tell The Big Lead. Unauthorized to speak publicly on the matter, the sources requested anonymity. One source said that while the deal is not yet finalized, indications are that it’s headed in that direction very soon.

Thamel, who specializes in college football reporting, joined SI from the New York Times in 2012. Thamel did not return text messages or a phone call seeking comment.

Yahoo Sports and SI remain quite large properties in sports media, but they are both in states of flux.

The transition in Yahoo’s acquisition by Verizon/AOL is ongoing, and the sports section is being helmed by longtime digital media executive Geoff Reiss, who joined the company in March. At the beginning of this month, NBA reporting titan Adrian Wojnarowski departed for ESPN. Layoffs at the site included bloggers Kelly Dwyer, Eric Freeman and Sean Leahy, as well as top editors Bob Condor, Joe Lago and Melissa Geisler.

There have also been a number of layoffs at SI as of late, including the writers Greg Bedard and Seth Davis. Earlier this week, it was reported that the magazine is mulling the decision to drop from the current 38 issues to 24 in 2018. SI’s parent company, Time Inc., turned down an acquisition from the magazine publisher Meredith at $18 a share. National Enquirer CEO David Pecker is said to be considering making a run at buying the company.

Can Sportswriting Online Be Saved? Vice Sports Lays Off Writers, as the Brutal Year in Sports Media Continues

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Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version stated that Vice Sports was closing based on a tweet from its editor-in-chief, Jorge Arangure. He has since posted the following clarification:

Vice spokesperson Ian Fried told the Big Lead: “VICE sports is not closed.  It will retain its URL and be home to written editorial and video sports coverage.”

Arangure announced earlier in the day that the vertical was shuttering.

It goes without saying it’s been a bad year for digital sportswriting. In no particular order, ESPN laid off 100 talents, many of whom were writers. Yahoo had notable layoffs. Sports Illustrated, too. Fox pivoted to video. So did Vocativ. MTV News, which had a bunch of former Grantland writers on staff, did as well. (Their issues were not unforeseeable.)

In what can’t be categorized as a surprise, Vice will focus more on, you guessed it, video.

In the past several years, it’s gotten harder and harder to make a buck off the written word online. To do so at scale based on display ads, a site needs an astounding number of page views, which are not always merit-based. This advertising model rewards aggregating stories on celebrities dating in extreme disproportion to expending resources on original news gathering and reporting. Also, there’s the 1,000-pound gorilla that is Facebook. Digital operations over-expanded when Facebook was handing out hundreds of thousands of page views at a time. Facebook’s algorithm came in like a wrecking ball. Now everybody is chasing video views.

A significant number of consumers enjoy longform reporting and storytelling, but they’re going to have to speak not just with their eyeballs but with their wallets. A big reason the Washington Post and New York Times have had such a resurgence in their political reporting is that they’re buoyed by a revenue model of both sponsorships and subscriptions. (And even the NYT has not been immune to staff cuts.)

The model in sports undertaken by DK Sports in Pittsburgh, Greg Bedard and the Boston Sports Journal, and The Athletic — which we wrote about in-depth last week — is one that anybody who works in this industry and/or appreciates original reporting should root for and support with subscription purchases.

Media Armageddon: Where Do We Go From Here? A Talk With Jason McIntyre and Crossing Broad Founder Kyle Scott

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A big group of Vice Sports staffers were the latest casualty in a string of bad news for online sportswriters this year. ESPN, SI, Yahoo, Fox Sports, Vocativ, and MTV all had big layoffs before them. This conversation with TBL founder and editor-in-chief Jason McIntyre and Kyle Scott, the founder of the Philly sports blog Crossing Broad, touched on the following:

  • Reactions to the latest news
  • If you’re a writer now, how do you survive the thinning of the herd and make a living in this industry?
  • What do you do if you’d reached a pretty good income level, got laid off, and can’t come anywhere close to what you were making in the current marketplace?
  • The evolution of the mainstream media as aggregators.
  • Various revenue models: apparel, sponsorships, surveys, etc.
  • Why the legalization of gambling would put a lot of money back into the marketplace immediately.

Hope you enjoy the conversation!

Podcast produced by Michael Shamburger

PAST GLASS HALF EMPTY PODCASTS:

▶ David Kaplan Talks Cubs Book, Hawks Vs. Bulls, and Ill-Fated Shawn Kemp for Scottie Pippen Trade Scoop

▶ Discussing the Future of FS1 With Sporting News Media Reporter Michael McCarthy

▶ Ramona Shelburne Discusses LaVar Ball Kayfabe, LeBron to the Lakers?, and Her Career Ascent

▶ Ira Berkow on Watching Baseball With Obama, Covering Marge Schott, Billy Martin, and Trump

▶ The Ringer Editor-At-Large Bryan Curtis Discusses Jamie Horowitz’s Content Legacy at FS1 and ESPN

▶ Ozzie Smith Discusses Web Gems, African-Americans in Baseball, and Tony La Russa

▶ Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand Discusses How ESPN Got Where It Is, And Where It’s Going

▶ Breaking Down Connor Schell Promotion at ESPN With Sporting News Media Reporter Michael McCarthy

▶ A U.S. Open Preview with Dave Kindred and Michael Kornheiser

▶ Jalen Rose Discusses the Ascent of Durant and the Kurse of the Kardashians

▶ A Sports Media Discussion With Bryan Curtis, Editor-at-Large at The Ringer

▶ Vince Wilfork Talks BBQ Ribs, Retirement Odds, and Belichick

▶ SI’s Richard Deitsch Discusses ESPN Layoffs, Bayless Tweets, WWE, Simmons, Nolan, and Barstool

▶ Dustin Johnson Discusses Injury Recovery, Improved Putting and Wedges, and How He Met Paulina

▶ Mike Florio on Zeke/Jerry/Goodell, Browns Smokescreens, and Richard Sherman Trade Spots

▶ ESPN’s Andy North Talks Lexi Thompson, The Masters, and The Badgers

▶ Chad Millman Discusses Chicago Fans and the Process of Planning the Front Page of ESPN.com

▶ CBS Sports Reporter Tracy Wolfson Talks Final Four, “Stealing Plays,” and Work/Life Balance

▶ Turner Sports Host Ernie Johnson Is in an Insanely Busy Stretch

▶ Turner/CBS Analyst Grant Hill Talks Coach K and Grayson Allen, Lonzo and LaVar Ball, NBA Rest

▶ Michael Kornheiser Talks Launching Tony’s Podcast, 2017 Golf Landscape

▶ A Conversation With Joe Buck

▶ Breaking Down Packers Victory and Broadcasting Aspirations With AJ Hawk

▶ Dan Wetzel Talks Chargers-to-LA, UFC Lawsuit, Ronda Rousey, and His Triumph Over Marriott

▶ CBS Sports Host Adam Schein Discusses OBJ and Giants in Miami, Juggling a Half-Dozen Jobs

▶ Aaron Nagler’s Journey from Private Equity PR to Packers Media Maven for USA Today Network

▶ Jeff Van Gundy Discusses Cavs-Warriors, Russell Westbrook, and Why Patrick Ewing Hasn’t Gotten Head Coach Shot

▶ Fox Sports Host Rob Stone: Five Events in Three Sports All Over the Continent Since Last Week

▶ Jalen Rose Discusses His Trajectory at ESPN

▶ Why Does Doug Gottlieb Think NCAA Players Shouldn’t Be Able to Play Right Away Elsewhere If Coaches Leave?

▶ Fox Sports Host Rob Stone Talks USA-Mexico and Network’s 2018 World Cup Coverage Plans

▶ Fox Sports Host Kevin Burkhardt Talks World Series, Working With A-Rod, Pete Rose, + Frank Thomas

▶ Cari Champion Signs New Multi-Year Deal With ESPN, Discusses Expanded SportsCenter + More

▶ Scott Van Pelt on What’s Gone Right in a Year of Midnight SportsCenter

Colin Cowherd Discusses His New Digital Venture

Fox Sports Soccer Analyst Alexi Lalas Talks Timbers-Sounders, Champions League, and Hope Solo

A Conversation With Kristine Leahy, Broadcaster on American Ninja Warrior and FS1’s The Herd

Felix Salmon Dissects the Ramifications of Gawker’s Bankruptcy Filing

Talking All Things Media With CNN Poly-Platformist Brian Stelter

Copa America 2016: Rob Stone of Fox Sports Breaks Down the Nuts and Bolts

The Pro Wrestling Reporter Who Left TMZ to Start Up His Own Shop

Rockets Need a Rebuild; Is Daryl Morey the Right Person for that Job?

Richard Deitsch Talks Bayless, Tirico, and Possible First Take Replacements

A Conversation With Sarah Spain

Ahman Green Talks About Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and Eddie Lacy

Nicole Auerbach Discusses Tyler Summitt’s Resignation, and the Aftermath

Mike Florio: Average Fans Should Care About Josh Gordon Confidentiality Breach (Previous podcasts with Florio on Deflategate and his own career are here and here)

Dave Kindred Shares Memories of Covering The Masters for 50 Years

Turner Sports Announcer Brian Anderson Talks NCAA Tourney, Career, and Hank the Dog

Chris Russo Talks One-Night Mike and the Mad Dog Reunion, Adam LaRoche, and Tom Brady

Should LeBron Bear More Responsibility for Love and Kyrie “Fitting In?” (With Cleveland sports talk host Anthony Lima)

Sally Jenkins Talks Tennessee, NCAA Pay, Deflategate, Joe Paterno, and Lance Armstrong

What Does PC Twitter Even Mean? (With Jason McIntyre and Barstool’s Big Cat)

A Conversation With Linda Cohn, Whose Record 5000th SportsCenter Is on the Horizon

Woj Discusses Launching The Vertical, LeBron and Blatt, and What Would Make Hacking Stop

Barstool and Its Bloggers Bet on Mainstream Viability

Would Jay Bilas Advise Leonard Fournette and Christian McCaffrey to Sit Out Next Season?

Asking Darren Rovell If and When LeBron James Will Be a Billionaire

Peter King Talks NFL Refs, MMQB*

Peter Mehlman Compares and Contrasts Crafting Novel With Writing for Howard Cosell and Seinfeld

Christine Brennan’s Talks About Greg Hardy, NFL Media, and Advice for Young Writers

A Conversation With Michael Wilbon

Bill Plaschke Talks About Lamar Odom and the Curse of the Kardashians

Was Urban Meyer Okay With Players Asking Taylor Swift Out?

Ex-Vikings Mascot Ragnar Tells His Side of the Story

Brett Taylor, the Cubs Blogger Who Left a Big Law Firm

Gary Sheffield Talks MLB Playoffs, Harper-Papelbon, and Hall of Fame

Scott Van Pelt Talks Midnight SportsCenter, Madison As Best College Sports Town in America

Matthew Berry Has Like 45 Jobs

Jim Ross Talks About His Live Show, Roddy Piper, and Steroids in Hollywood

Clay Travis Talks SEC Media Days, New Deal With Fox Sports, and the Confederate Flag

A Long Conversation With Frank Deford

Does Sarah Spain worry that her politics will make her polarizing?

David Purdum talks about Tony Romo, fantasy football, and the NFL’s gambling hypocrisies 

Dan Le Batard talks about his career, Papi, and Bill Simmons

Kenny Smith before the NBA conference finals

*denotes Pigsplosion podcast

Tom Rinaldi "Threw Up on His Shoes" After Googling Himself in 2010 and Hasn't Done It Since

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ESPN’s Tom Rinaldiis not on social media but is keenly aware of his reputation as a heartstring-puller and violin music-inducer. Beyond that, though, he doesn’t really know know how the public views him — nor is he particularly interested.

Rinaldi was the guest on this week’s Sports Illustrated Media Podcast and was asked by host Richard Deitsch about a previous interview in the Louisville Courier-Journal suggesting the longform aficionado has never Googled himself.

“Never is wrong,” Rinaldi clarified. “There was a time where I did and then I stopped and I stopped the night before we did the first interview with [Tiger] Woods after the implosion in his personal life. That’s a tough spot. It’s a great spot and a tough spot.”

“The night before, I did throw up on my shoes,” he revealed. “I just told myself ‘I’m never going to look anything up again. I don’t need to get the verdict from a faceless jury. With my wife as my witness, I think she would tell you I haven’t really ever done it since.”

The five-minute sitdown, filmed in March 2010, featured Rinaldi getting as many questions as he could in and a relatively candid collection of answers. The journalist told Deitsch the best way to emerge from such a difficult assignment is as a good umpire or official, to be a part of the scenery and have all the focus on Woods, the subject.

“To this day I still don’t know how that interview has been graded out by others,” Rinaldi said. “I know that I did the best I could, I know the company liked it. I know that I continued to have a working relationship with Tiger.”

There are two major reactions that come to mind here. The first is immense jealousy that Rinaldi’s gig is not reliant on social media or dependent on the 24-7 feedback loop. Surely, thousands of journalists would love to unplug from Twitter and the comments sections with no return date in sight.

The second, though, is to push back on the idea that viewers and readers are truly a “faceless jury.” Like it or not, they are the jury and by totally ignoring online feedback, Rinaldi is ignoring those who will put their name to their critiques as well. Of course, unless he breaks his longstanding rule, he’ll never consider this because it will never reach him.

 

Sports Illustrated Is Experimenting With Pay Model on Swimsuit Videos

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Earlier this week, I was bouncing around the internet looking for actionable blog content when I noticed a dollar sign next to a video of behind-the-scenes footage of Kate Upton, Gigi Hadid, and other Sports Illustrated Swimsuit models. When you click into it, you get a preview under a minute, and it costs 99 cents to rent the whole 54-minute production:

Not recalling having seen this before from SI, I inquired whether it was a new feature.

“We’re always experimenting with new distribution and revenue models for our range of long-form video content,” an SI spokesperson said in an email. “This is the first video from Sports Illustrated Swimsuit to be published under this format, and we plan to continue to experiment with the best ways to reach more people, wherever they are consuming premium video programming.”

A buck at a time, there would need to be A LOT of sales on these videos to make a meaningful difference in SI’s bottom line. It remains to be seen if they will take this model from Swimsuit vertical to other areas of sports, whether that be analysis or perhaps original documentaries.

Do you think this will be worthwhile?


Richard Deitsch Leaving Sports Illustrated for The Athletic

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Richard Deitsch is leaving Sports Illustrated for The Athletic, The Big Lead has learned. A spokesperson for The Athletic confirmed the news.

Deitsch joined SI in 1997, and for many years now has been a sports media reporter, columnist, and podcaster. He recently announced that he would be joining Sportsnet 590 in Toronto to do sports talk radio with Bob McCown and Stephen Brunt.

The Athletic, which is rapidly expanding and recently raised $20 million of new funding, has a strong foothold in Toronto; last July, Bloomberg noted that Toronto was its most successful market. Deitsch will continue to cover sports media.

The Athletic features a number of SI ex-pats. Paul Fichtenbaum, SI’s former editor-in-chief, is chief content officer there. Former SI writers Stewart Mandel and Seth Davis lead national college football and college basketball sites. George Dohrmann is a senior editor and writer. Lars Anderson, Phil Taylor, John Walters, and Jeff Pearlman also write there.

Andy Staples and Charles Robinson Have Differing Views on Sharing Video Content With Competitors

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Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated shared a video on his Twitter feed, of the aftermath in the crowd and of Donte Ingram’s dad after his son hit the game-winning shot for Loyola-Chicago. The Yahoo Sports Desk asked for permission to use the video on their social channels and was denied.

Earlier in the day, Charles Robinson of Yahoo posted video of Colin Kaepernick working out in Houston. The Sports Illustrated Assignment Desk asked Robinson for permission to use his video, which he granted. So Robinson responded to Staples’ snark:

So what’s the right answer here? Well, companies do monetize videos from people–whether they be writers like Robinson or Staples, or people who just happen to post video online. I think there’s an interesting question, though, about just how valuable these shares are when things are seen almost everywhere online within minutes if it is big enough. The SI and Yahoo accounts could easily just quote tweet the original video tweets and that would be no different than any other account that shares content. That would be totally inbounds, but not what these accounts do.

Robinson’s view is reasonable, because in the end, the sharing of this content with credit is not a net negative for the originator. Staples’ stance, though, is far more entertaining. It’s not quite ESPN asking a random Patriots fan for permission and getting slapped down, but it is funny.

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