Sports Illustrated layoffs

"rendering" has been what has been done to SI for the last few years - finding new uses for long dead franchise.

 

I'd be perfectly happy if SI/Maven/Merideth went completely away and we never heard from them again.

 

I read one of the worst pieces of fanboi clickbait ever yesterday. I am ashamed to admit I clicked and read. It was a list of critical things that opponents recently said (anonymously) about a Power 5 team. It was nothing more than bulletin board material for the ultimate benefit of the Maven-backed team.

 

Yeah, Maven seems very shady. I was recently approached by them about becoming a publisher of one of their pages. But what I found interesting is that after approaching me it seemed like everything was about proving to them that I was worthy of the job. I played the game for a minute, because all I saw was Sports Illustrated. But I quickly realized this was not the same Sports Illustrated that was once the gold standard. When I figured out that the plan was for me to produce at least 90 stories and 90 videos per month by myself for what would have equaled out to less than minimum wage and that the first paycheck would not show up for 60 days I declined the offer. They intrigue you with that Scout model of being "the owner" of the page and getting a share of advertising and subscriptions but it's tricky how you get beyond the guarantee money and they do what they can to avoid the whole money conversation. They do sound a little cash strapped. Like I told them, I still love my chosen profession but I sure hate what people are asking me to do in order to continue being in that career. I will pass!

 

I saw a post from one publisher last night that he was let go because of financial reasons. I suspect there will be more in the coming days.

 

Did they say how long they expected the posts and the videos to be?

 

Do you have a link? And how are they letting go of people they probably pay on the pyramid, err, revenue sharing scheme?

 

You’re telling me that clickbait ain’t a profitable game? Naw.

 

Exactly, which was the final straw. And it's not like I couldn't use the job but I will no longer allow this business to take advantage of me and my family.

 

The posts are only like 250 words max, but the real headache is the videos. Teams are highly unlikely to give us any in-person contact which would mean that your videos would primarily be you in front of the camera talking for two to three minutes each. I was originally led to believe I would be able to bring aboard freelancers to maybe help me with recruiting and doing some of the workload, but the guarantee was way too low for that.

 

How dare you not hire college kids or eager adults to write and produce video for free. [/do we still have a sarcasm font here]