Sporting News/AOL Fanhouse

There is a big difference between temporary workers, independent contractors and contract employees. Each can be treated differently.

 

You're discounting the most major of all factors on the Web: It's about platform way more than content. We all like to think Yahoo Sports has risen to prominence because of their great stable of writers and their strong commitment to investigations. But the truth is that fantasy sports drives the train. It's a similar situation to ESPN.com, which is the conglomerate, and MSN.com/Fox Sports, which feeds off the site that is the home page of the majority of U.S.-based Internet users. Then there are Google searches (hello, Bleacher Report!) and such. The Sporting News doesn't have that platform; obviously they believe AOL does and they will move up the ranks solely because of it.

I guess that's the big question hovering over everything, what makes a successful website? The answer, unfortunately, seems to be something that relies more on quantifiable metrics than it does on who writes the best stories day-in and day-out. If AOL can get the same traffic at a quarter to a half of the cost, that's going to be the route they choose. As for content ... David Whitley is in my opinion the best thing going on Fanhouse. Yet on the Web, as much as we hate to admit it, David Whitley is no Bill Simmons.

What I'd like to know, and I'm sure Moddy can't answer this, is what kind of outline did the bigwigs give them? Did the recruitment pitches say "we're fully funded for two years" or whatever?

 

No, not right. Not even close. Sporting News has lots of original content by "good" writers. The difference is that the portal poured viewers into AOL's lap, as Yahoo does for its sports site. That's the difference. That Sporting News could do that number of visitors without the portal power (or a TV network like CBS or ESPN) is a tribute to the power of its brand the quality of work that so many people there provide.
I have no idea what Sporting News' plans are. There are some terrific writers at FanHouse. What Sporting News and AOL plan to do with them, no idea. But your original supposition is ridiculous.

 

The biggest reasons I read Fanhouse are:

Olson and Couch.

Chris Harry on the NFL.
Chris Tomasson on the NBA

Michael David Smith on the NFL

 

Sorry to Moddy and everyone else for a crappy, crappy turn of events.

 

Is there any timeframe on when this is happening?

 

the sporting news still publishes?

 

It's scary when people who leave newspapers thinking they're the last rat off the sinking ship find they landed on a ship that's sinking even faster. One of my former colleagues left my old shop for a job with Patriots Football Weekly, and we all thought he was bulletproof. Nine months later, Bob Kraft sent for him and told him to bring his playbook.
Now I worry a bit about my friends at Patch (my bosses at my two previous shops work there). I've heard there's a local editor hiring freeze, and there were several jobs in my area unfilled.
If Patch goes down, AOL goes down with it. AOL's pushed in all its chips.

ETA: AOL sure knows how to screw up sports. I was in the original AOL Sports blogging community, and watched the staff people I used to deal with all get shoved out the door when Fanhouse started. Even the winner of their national All-Star Blogger contest (I was one of the finalists and also an occasional guest on their Sports Bloggers Live streaming show) was pretty much told to take a hike when she wanted a role.

 

I don't see how Patch can succeed, but that's just me...

 

M. D. Smith might have a safe landing spot at NBC, doing as much work for PFT as he does.

 

He left PFT on good terms, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him back there. He's one who won't be unemployed for long.

 

By the way, I didn't mean to denigrate any of the current Sporting News people. I know there are some good ones who work hard. My point was simply that there aren't many of them, so they can't do what FanHouse was doing in terms of generating lots of original, live content from everywhere sports news was happening.

If the point is that isn't important, then I guess were all screwed.