Sports Illustrated layoffs

It's a master's degree. And get off my lawn

 

Just damn.
Rick Telander’s ode to Sports Illustrated: Doing the write thing

 

Reminded me how thrilled I was to just have a letter published in SI. Gonna have to dig that issue out.

 

In non-layoff news, Pat Forde leaving Yahoo for SI:

https://www.si.com/college/2019/10/...&xid=socialflow_twitter_si&utm_campaign=sinow

 

I have no idea what Telander's trying to say there, especially with regard to the swimsuit issue, but ok.

 

I'm interested in the LLC aspect of this.

I get that they're building a content mill based on nothing more than SEO.

But how is asking writers to form or join an LLC a bad thing? The articles act like it's the ultimate sewer--- ewwww an LLC!-- how could they even?!

But none of the articles gets into the problem with it.

Just thinking out loud.

 

I'm curious how it is organized. It seems as if SI will be "two-tiered" - the senior writers and everyone else. Unless they are having the senior writers become LLCs as well.

 

There are a number of state court decisions and at least one law (AB5 in California) which significantly restrict the circumstances in which a service provider can be considered to be an independent contract rather than an employee. Having an arms length agreement with an LLC allows you to (potentially) avoid the employer-employee relationship. That’s why.

 

Forming and maintaining an LLC is a bit of a pain in the ass, and if I were these prospective contributors, I'd tell Maven to go blow.

There are plenty of other, better content mills out there.

 

I want to take a moment and straighten some things out for you all because the level of misinformation has just been unreal. If you're wondering why I haven't spoken up before, well, it was pretty obvious that no matter what I said was going to be ignored or shot down by those who were riding some pretty strong emotions. I was also too busy, and you'll see why in a moment.

I run BamaCentral - the Maven site for Alabama. When all those stories were being written about Maven, not one person writing them called me for a comment. I don’t think anyone from the sites was.

For those who don't know me, I've been a proud sports journalist since 1990. I've also written 26 books. I took a buyout from one company when it became pretty clear I no longer had a future in it, and the last three places I worked the entire staff was let go (over a span of four years). Most recently, I was at SEC Country and I was stupid enough to think it might be the last place I worked. So much for that.

So I'm extremely sensitive about layoffs.

My first newspaper just sold its building. My second newspaper no longer exists. The third are fourth are still around, but may be on borrowed time. They've all been cut down to the bone. Everyone I know who still works for them is absolutely miserable.

I can't speak for anyone else but myself, but when Maven called after SEC Country folded and asked if I was interested in becoming my own boss I said "hell yes."

That's right. I own my site. I make all the decisions and not once have I had someone tell me what stories I should, or should not run. I am far from perfect, but I'll put up my work ethic against anyone's.

BamaCentral was born the first day of SEC Media Days last year, 2018. It's been unbelievably hard, not to mention financially challenging. I've learned a lot and I'm incredibly excited about the future.

Regarding some of the things you all are wondering about:

On the suggestion that we're "two-tiered" -- that's a pretty good way to look at it. Sports Illustrated is still Sports Illustrated. BamaCentral is BamaCentral. If they see a story that we did that they like they can use it on their website, which in theory should only add layers to what they're doing.

Do I have interns working for me? Yes. Why? Because you have to start somewhere and I didn't have money to lure away other writers. That's half of it. The other half is I've added some really great, hard-working kids who I can teach how to do things the right way. They're hungry and have very promising futures. I've really enjoyed that part of it, both in terms of coaching and encouraging them along with building something from scratch.

Do I have an LLC? Yes, although I didn't have to (Maven has since made this standard policy). Why? Because my plan all along was to hire people to work with me and for me as independent contractors. On January 1, one of my interns will become my first full-time staffer, with another taking on a part-time role until we make enough for him to be full-time. I'm optimistic that it won't be long.

I haven't told them this, but I'm also going to make damn sure I treat them better than the way I've been over the years.

As long as we keep growing, I plan to keep re-investing, and eventually not everyone will be in-house developed talent. We'll get better. We will expand. We already have people covering basketball, baseball and softball. We've recently brought someone in to cover women's basketball and gymnastics because I think it's important to cover women's sports. We have other people making contributions.

We're going to work hard, earn the trust of our readers and have fun along the way. There will be bumps in the road. We will have setbacks. That's part of the journey. But we're just getting started ...

Please check us out. We're about to have a re-design, but otherwise we're gearing up for a huge week with LSU coming to town. Feel free to drop me a line and tell me what you think, and I'll be happy to answer any questions you have here as well. Thanks.