Leave paper and start paywall site?

Absolutely do not use Patreon unless you want to give someone 5-12% of your income plus 2.9% of each transaction for a publishing platform that will be limited and you'll have no control over. Use Wordpress with the Memberpress plugin.

 

A couple of more thoughts ...

I do some freelance work for a HS site. Biggest problem is getting some coaches - the bottom 15 percent - to report scores on game nights and then provide complete individual stats after video has been reviewed and "booked." My editor always sounds surprised about these stragglers. "But he's always 'LIKE'-ing our stuff!" Huge difference between hitting a button and doing something that requires a bit of effort. I think a parallel with your potential audience might hold: Anyone can easily, at no cost, "LIKE" your online coverage ... but how many of those will be willing to take the step to pay for it?

There's probably a reason a lot of BIG media companies are going the podcast route to enlarge or retain their audience. There might be a lesson there.