Sports Illustrated layoffs

To echo Solo's point, places indeed are ramping up soccer coverage and it appears to be wildly successful. In the UK, The Athletic went after top names and are seeing big returns.

And while we're on the topic, how many sports writers actually justify their salary? How many top earners at places also account for the best metrics/subscription revenue?

 

What salary would be justified?

 

Generally speaking, media companies ain't exactly been moneyball. ESPN recently employed folks who almost certainly lost them millions, but ESPN paid them millions anyway, because Skipper.

Rando Jones writing soccer would generate X content with Y number of hits. What you gotta determine is whether Higher-Priced Writer A delivers above and beyond that to a significant, financial degree. Truth is, how do we know?

 

My most educated guess there is, we don't, but they do. Or they at least have an idea. Coming from an advertising family, my dad always preached a couple things about publishers: None of them are poor and few of them are stupid, and the latter ensured the former. Maybe his original contract was outlandish and that's why the new guys were looking to whack him. I know at my old gig I was way overpaid. I never said it out loud, but while I was as productive as anyone on the staff, I was responsible for nearly no revenue generation. Eventually the top men figured it out and that role no longer exists at their company (nor do most others at this point, yet the publishers' pockets remain deep).

 

CAD or USD??

 

Is that the same mindset that's driving Maven now? And if it's true, then every writer in the business better get ready to get replaced by a Rando Jones willing to work for next to nothing or, worse, "exposure."

 

um

 

Oh, there's a point where it's a clear diminishing return. I think people read Bill Barnwell over at ESPN. People want to hear from and read Mina Kimes. They work their asses off, but they have good audiences and they write about a very popular sport. I don't think there's any question Lee Jenkins had that kind of draw at SI.

Maybe Grant Wahl does/did. Soccer in America is tricky tho. We aren't very good at it on the men's side, and, on the women's side, there's really only one kind of story you're allowed to tell. It would seem to limit the scope.

 

Most publishers were protected when newspapers had a near-monopoly on local advertising. Since that evaporated, many publishers have been exposed as emperors with no clothes -- cut, cut, do what some consultant says, cut, cut, sell to a hedge fund ...

I am reminded of what Megan Greenwell wrote: "people who genuinely believe that they are rich because they are smart and that they are smart because they are rich."

 

You're assuming the US National Team's games are the only thing to write about. It's not. You have Americans playing at a high level abroad. MLS does have some pull stateside, especially in some new markets (Nashville, Atlanta) and established ones (Seattle, Portland).

Plus there is sustained and even increased interest in foreign leagues. The UK, Germany, Spain and Italy all have TV deals with American broadcasters (NBC, Fox, ESPN), while the Champions League does as well.

Lot more to cover than just the national teams.

 

Right. They cut and cut and cut, and when their personal bottom line is going to be affected, they sell. Most, though, walk away with mountains of cash. Doesn't make them smart in any case. What my old man used to tell me was axiomatic. I've worked for three publishers, all family business. They have cast aside dozens of good people, shuttered publications and pretty much done nothing but downsize throughout my career. None, however, missed payments on their numerous houses.

 

No better indicator of what's happdened to the US than the growth of soccer. It used to be when New World countries became wealthy, they turned to baseball. We're regressing. What kind of a game is it where you can't use your hands?