Sports Illustrated layoffs

I don't disagree with this at all. But when you make that much and cry poor, it doesn't look good, especially when many, inside and outside your field, are having their rates reduced to $0. We had 10,000 people in San Antonio the other day lining up to get food. I have neighbors worrying about losing their homes. And this guy, who is "only" going to be making $245k and is married to a doctor who makes somewhere above minimum wage (the relevance of which is in the eye of the beholder), is crying poor. And if that's not what he's doing, to the masses that's sure what it looks and sounds like he's doing. And I get why Moddy and DD, both of whom I respect greatly, are taking his side. I wonder how they'd feel were this just some dude in another industry losing his lucrative gig for mouthing off. To me, this is a typical case of a high earner not wanting to share. Everyone's a liberal until it's their cash. Or that of someone they know and like.

At my university, the entire faculty just was told there would be across-the-board pay cuts to combat the declines in enrollment that will be a product of this virus. There were two choices: 1. Everyone gets a cut and everyone stays, or 2. Nobody gets a cut but a good number become free agents. It wasn't a tough decision. And nobody took to Twitter to cry about.

As for the market, it dictated that Wahl earn as much as he did. Good for him. Awesome, in fact. I applaud that he was able to command that much and he deserved it because he got it. So when you get it, keep your head down, your mouth shut and do your job. Instead, he decided to take to social media and denigrate the company that was writing those checks, even if that's not who he originally signed with. And guess what that company did next? Exactly what any company in any industry would have done. It doesn't matter whether his intentions were altruistic, and maybe they were. Don't. Hit. Send. But he did his send and now his market value is $0. Hope it was worth it.

 

I'm not saying he should agree to anything. I'm just pointing out what it looks like when he doesn't. People are losing everything. Thousands are dying daily. Most of us are stuck inside our homes. There's no end in sight. And's he's crying because he has to write about a game for a meager $245,000 a year. A game that's not even being played right now. You think that looks good?

 

He was underpaid at 350k. Guy like that should be commanding at least half a mil.

 

Then he should have no problem getting it, right? And when he does, maybe he should not tweet angry things about his employer.

 

Even though it has been a cute rallying cry for the pro-Wahl group on this board, I doubt anyone actually subscribes to that "YOU ALL HATE PEOPLE THAT MAKE MONEY!!!" line. If that is what he negotiated, good on him. I don't read much soccer coverage but I am sure that he deserves it. He has every right to be angry that the Maven wanted to give him a permanent pay cut.

I do take offense to him publicly complaining about a pay cut during a time in which newspapers are closing, journalists are being fired, others making significantly less than him are being furloughed, news reporters and photographers are putting their health at risk in the field and college journalists are looking out at a landscape that may not have any room for them. I do take offense to him publicly complaining about a pay cut while the wait time to even apply for unemployment benefits is absurd and families are packing parking lots so they can have food to eat tonight.

His tweet lacked tact and was tone-deaf. I thought that when he originally tweeted it and I think that now that his salary has been revealed. But that shouldn't have been a surprise considering that he had a similar issue last month with a tweet that lacked tact and was tone-deaf.

Someone earlier in this thread said that everyone would go kicking and screaming if they were forced to take a pay cut from $350K. I don't think that is true. First off, this is a message board and it is safe to say that some of you aren't that bold in real life. Some people would look for a way out behind the scenes. Some people would wait until this pandemic died down before they started raising hell. Some people may consider themselves to be blessed to be still making that kind of money at a dying publication that has been repeatedly laying off their colleagues. Not everyone would go kicking and screaming, which is why Grant Wahl was the only person fired this week for doing what Grant Wahl did.

The Maven has been, currently is and will continue to be scum. We already knew that, which is why I don't buy the argument that Grant Wahl was sticking up for anybody but himself. I hope he gets scooped up and is writing again soon. This specific fight, however, is between two sides that I have no interest in rooting for.

 

Oh, tough shit. He had an agreement in hand whereby his employer would pay him a specific amount for services rendered. Why should he agree to a permanent salary reduction?

 

See the first half of my post that you quoted. Read it over and over again. Then read the second half once. And try to be less angry. Nobody cut your salary. That I know of (because you didn't tweet about it).

 

Why should he, I, or anyone care about an inaccurate perception?

Why should he agree to a permanent salary reduction without cause?

 

Places like SI aren't so much places you work for anymore - for someone like Wahl, it's merely a platform where you launch your work product. If someone wants to print it on the page, have him do podcasts, publish on the web, or do videos - it's all the same.

 

I don’t see where he ever cried poor.