Sports Illustrated layoffs

You have some of warped political take which makes no sense and which is always inarticulate. I’m not wrong, but OK

 

I know that’s what I worry about when the boys on my side put on their kits and take the pitch for a friendly. That’s not why they train to drill Olympics to the upper-90 on set pieces.

 

As much as we all love to shit on MLS it’s not going away any time soon. 60k showed up for Nashville’s first ever game before COVID shut down the season.

 

Oh, it makes sense. I won’t speak to whether I write well enough for your standards, but my point makes sense. You don’t like it, you don’t agree with it, you think I’m stupid or whatever, but I think you know what the point is.

 

I literally have no idea what your point is.

 

IMO it’s not all about soccer’s ranking among American sports, but that rank figured in with Wahl’s rank compared to his soccer-scribe peers.

$350,000 per year for a football reporter may not get you Schefter, for a NBA reporter may not get you Woj. $350,000 made SI and Wahl and his podcast, twitter feed, whatever else, the go-to source for soccer. Even if that audience doesn’t rival NFL fans, his place at the top of the chain, as the go-to source for anyone who does care about soccer, is important.

 

OK, I guess I'm wrong. And it makes me wonder why all the high-salaried columnists in the country aren't flocking to cover soccer.

 

Because most of them would be swimming in Grant Wahl's wake.

 

Aren't you kind of moving your own goalposts by saying someone is worth whatever he/she can get but it's crazy to pay someone that much to cover soccer? Wahl carved a nice niche for himself and capitalized on that. Soccer is not my thing, but it's the thing of enough people that paying the top dog north of 300 grand was apparently a good investment.

As for the notion elsewhere that he knew his tweet might get him fired, probably. But he also, based on his other tweet, probably figured he was going to get at least half a year's severance, if not more and is now clearly shell-shocked that he didn't.

 

I wish I could say that I don't have time for this nonsense, but, uh, I do. I'll state it again then I'm done.
The ROI on soccer IN THE UNITED STATES doesn't justify paying a person $350k. Wahl deserves everything anybody is willing to pay him. SI is either overpaying or mis-using him, or just doesn't understand the importance -- or lack thereof -- of soccer. Period.

 

How do you know what their return on investment is? Obviously it was enough to justify this or they would not have agreed to do it.

 

For one, Wahl isn't a columnist. He's a beat writer, just not for a daily newspaper. He breaks news. He offers in-depth analysis. He does extensive features. He's not Bill Plaschke, writing 4-5 times a week 52 weeks out of the year. Wahl's writing ebbs and flows with the season.

Two, you're looking at this from a newspaper perspective instead of a magazine one. SI, ESPN, The Athletic, etc. all have far more resources to be able to assign dedicated writers for every sport. Baseball, basketball, soccer, golf, auto racing, tennis. Diversity of content is critical to those larger outlets, and you want to hire the best. Jeff Carlisle does excellent work for ESPN. I'm guessing he's making six figures, too. Wahl wasn't even the only soccer writer at SI - Brian Straus does a great job.

Finally, you argue that there isn't the ROI on soccer in the US. The outlets disagree. The Washington Post has a dedicated soccer writer in Steven Goff. ESPN has extensive soccer coverage online. The Athletic went in on soccer coverage both here in the US and in the UK. TV rights to foreign leagues continue to increase. So, obviously these outlets disagree with your assessment and they want notable writers to lead their coverage.