Sporting News/AOL Fanhouse

This makes me want to barf. Really feel for everyone.

 

My heart goes out to Moddy, who is one of the good guys; Ridge is a pro. However, Fanhouse was doomed when AOL Patch launched. Patch is sucking AOL dry. You just cannot keep bleeding money throughout the enterprise, and Fanhouse, despite the great work of Moddy and others, was not making any money. So exit Ridge -- and enter Garry Howard, who was literally skewered on this site when he got The Sporting News job. Now he becomes one of the most powerful people in sports journalism.

 

I second what Moddy said about Scott Ridge. Total pro. Class act.

 

FanHouse is/was a VERY fine product. Which means, naturally, that it is in line to be spiked by AOL.

Never met Scott Ridge, but knowing that he employed Moddy -- one of the true PROS in this business -- and gave him the reins to build FanHouse into a powerhouse, is enough for me.

I hope all involved land on their feet. I fear that they won't. Yet another craptacular day in the business.

rb

 

A part of my job requires me to spend some time on Yahoo Sports, Fanhouse, and ESPN.com. I've found Fanhouse to be my favorite of those three, because it provides the most unique content of the three sites. Like others have said, the site was doing a bang-up job. Very sorry to all affected.

 

It won't anymore if they're gutting the entire staff. It's a horse that's run its last race and is being shot on the track.

 

This can't be a good feeling if you are a Patch employee.

 

Crap. Sorry to hear this, Moddy.

Lots of talented people there. Just rough.

 

What kind of job?

 

I hear what you are saying, but disagree. This deal presumably gives AOL $$, which they won't be spending on Fanhouse. Plus, Patch is all about super local content - that's not something they'll be able to grab up from somewhere else.

And if the new AOL is anything like the new Sporting News website, it will blow monkey chow.

 

Speaking as a Patch employee, we're somewhat separate from the rest of the AOL flagship. The company hit all the 2010 goals AOL set for it, and it's only been under control for about a year, so I'm not really worried. Besides, given the stability of the rest of the industry, one could make the argument that at this point, it's just a matter of choosing which boat you want to go down with.