Vox is going to furlough 9% of the workforce starting May 1 and lasting until July 31. This really sucks as some of my favorite sports writers are now going on an unpaid vacation for 3 months and who knows who will be able to return and if some of these outlets will survive (especially Banner Society, PAPN, Shutdown Fullcast).
to clarify: I've been furloughed for three months by @voxmedia— BUM CHILLUPS (@edsbs) April 17, 2020
Sup pals, Vox Media is 3-month furloughing me and many of my most-talented, hardest-working friendsStarting May 1, if you have any writing/editing/podcasting/othercasting/other you'd like me to pitch in on (cfb, other sports, not sports at all), DMs & jasonekirk@gmail.com open— Jason Kirk, FURLOUGH MODE (@thejasonkirk) April 17, 2020
Your boy's furloughed from May 1-July 31. I don't know what's gonna happen to me. I'm fearful, sad, pissed off, betrayed and more ... oftentimes I feel those things all at once.— Richard🇬🇾Johnson (@RJ_Writes) April 17, 2020
Starting May 1, I'll be on a three-month furlough, along with a lot of great coworkers. I have cried at my desk a lot this week. It's not bc I'm sad, but because the way my @vox_union family and friends all across the company fought together was so overwhelming. They're amazing— Alex Kirshner (@alex_kirshner) April 17, 2020
Nothing else really to add, other than this really sucks.
Comments
This pisses me off. Is anyone left? Godfrey and Nanni?
Banner Society and The Athletic are the two best college football media outlets IMO. Not to mention that this time in college sports in the most PAPN time ever. There's so much opportunity for good reporting right now.
I haven't seen anything about Spencer Hall, Holly Anderson or Ryan Nanni, so Shutdown Fullcast might still be all right. I don't see Stephen Godfrey mentioned anywhere, but with him being out on paternity leave right now, it's hard to tell if he's still around and what that will mean for Podcast Ain't Played Nobody. It looks like everyone else from that podcast is gone for now.
I believe Spencer Hall runs the first Twitter account listed in the OP. So he and Jason are both furloughed.
yep, @edsbs (Every Day Should Be Saturday) is Spencer's twitter account.
Holly Anderson and maybe Brian Floyd (he hasn't tweeted at all in the last day, so can't confirm?) in addition to Godfrey & Nanni...
Edit: this was supposed to be a reply to this comment...the only other comment.
This sucks, and I really like a lot of these people.
Yeah this all sucks. Some really great and talented people are in a crappy situation.
And unfortunately, I doubt this is the last of the situation — across all media. Many sites are tied to page views and ad impressions as a revenue model, and right now advertising spend is way down. I've mentioned it before, but that's why TKPC and subscription revenue was really important for me to do.
Its truly a shame, too. With everyone being locked in with literally nowhere to go and no live sports to watch, really the only way to consume new content going forward is through articles. And unfortunately, the people who produce that kind of work are the first to be let go.
What really sucks is that the people who are going to end up capitalizing monetarily during this time are people like PewDiePie and Logan Paul who make the most trashiest of trash on YouTube only to get millions of hits immediately off it. With everyone home, those numbers are only going to spike for god knows what reason.
Wait until you discover the hell that is Ryan's Tpy Review and Tic Tac Toy. Those families are making MILLIONS a year!
I can't remember where I read it to share the article, but views are up on creator-led content because the reasons you mentioned, but ad spend is down, which means creators on the whole are making far less on the volume of traffic.
a classic case of efficient vs effective :C
I can't believe you would besmirch PewDiePie by putting him anywhere near the same level as Logan Paul.
It sucks. I'm someone who pays for good content, and I would love to pay for Banner Society. IMO they are the most creative people in college football.
Now I'm pissed that my podcast feed is going to be light...
an update from Ryan:
Man, that sucks. Spencer Hall is, in my opinion, by far their best writer. Banner Society is gonna be wierd without his input.
Joe,
You have stated in the past that Contributors are paid for their content. Is there any way you could commission something VT related from one of the furloughed writers? I would love to read something from Spencer on a VT topic.
I realize that there may be contract issues with Vox media that prevent any free-lance work from their employees, but its worth a shot if we can support good writers affected by COVID-19.
Also, I just joined the TKPC because I felt it would be stupid to ask this without putting my money out there. I also realized that my family is really fortunate in how little we are currently being financially affected by COVID-19 and our goal of helping small businesses extends to Orange and Maroon Media. Sorry for dragging my feet so long. For whatever reason, this thread was the wake-up call I needed.
Thanks.
Apparently the Vox union fought tooth and nail to get as good of a deal as they possibly could. Some of the tweets I've read make me think that they will be able to do freelance work for money, but I do not have concrete evidence.
I definitely appreciate your — 'I enjoy this, I should support this to ensure it doesn't go away' — revelation and action to join TKPC. I hope other TKPers decide to do that too. Thank you!
As for freelancers, I'm always trying to add more talented writers where it makes sense. Cody is a great recent example. I have to consider the content produced and cost though, because yeah ... money. Content requires money, the site requires money. TKPC brings in that money.
so 100 new TKPC members in the next 24 hours and we get an article from one of these guys? Let's do this people!!!
😭😭😭
I pray it's not truly the end.
Also, for anyone looking to support the EDSBS/Banner Society group, you can buy shirts whose proceeds will go toward those who were furloughed:
https://www.homefieldapparel.com/collections/lets-give-our-banner-societ...
For anyone who hasn't seen the news yet, Shutdown Fullcast is back. I haven't figured out the details, but from the way they're talking, it sounds like Spencer Hall and Jason Kirk are still not with Vox, but they must have convinced Vox to give/sell them the name and allow Holly Anderson and Ryan Nanni to appear as "guests". Even if everything does suck in 2020, it's good to have my favorite podcast back. And just for fun, their first pod back was devoted to ranking the "ACC Coastal-ness" of every ACC team.
If Vox is unable or unwilling to bring Banner Society back from this there will be some other sports media companies getting some solid young and respected voices in college football in Alex Kirshner and Richard Johnson.
FYI - they're opening up their own shop for now. Mooncrew.substack.com. There's links there to subscribe and support as well.
Good to hear. Any news on PAPN?
Nothing yet... Fullcast update their art work and looks like it may be hosted somewhere new. PAPN has not. I imagine that since Godfrey is a 'founding member' (for lack of a better term) of PAPN, it will follow him where ever he goes.