For those who haven't seen Vox, which owns SB Nation among others cut about 50 people yesterday and the sports media contingent was not spared.
Some of their Hockey guys got slips, and it was mostly focused on media and video production positions apparently. While changes in how Facebook shows videos and other content in the news feed also apparently fed into the decisions.
For football though there look to be 2 cuts which are sad to see. Dan Rubenstein who is one of their lead personalities for college football and cohost of The Solid Verbal podcast is apparently out. While Ryan Nanni who does a lot fo their production and is one of the 3 on the Shutdown Fullcast has also been very quiet and might be out.
Both were/are very smart and funny guys and it just goes to show how brutal sports media can be, and the determination and dedication it takes to roll with the punches for anyone wanting to make it a career! Very much hope they find a great new position soon.
Here is a CBS article about the layoffs in general at Vox and its uneven finances.
Comments
Kinda makes the constant "Fire Nanni" jokes in every comment section at EDSBS seem a bit tasteless now.
From an outsider's perspective, would seem to be a really dumb move to get rid of Nanni. He has a high profile, brings great perspective, is funny as hell, and is seemingly a genuinely good dude.
They might take his job, but nobody can ever take this away from him:
FRY NANNI!
That's not Ryan.
But these are!
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That man is a father.
Love Nanni, huge Shutdown Fullcast fan, but I kind of thought the opposite. I know that Nanni has a huge internet/twitter presence, and I know he contributes to a few podcasts, but what content does he create and how does he drive viewers to SBNATION? Spencer Hall, Jason Kirk, Bill Connelly, Stephan Godfrey, etc all write a lot of great content for SBNATION. I can't find anything by Nanni (of course, they may have taken his work off the site after laying him off*).
*Assumes lay off is for real
Shocked to see both of those guys go. Solid Verbal is one of the most popular college football podcasts out there, and he's constantly bringing in SBNation guys for free plugs. I'm pretty sure it's how I became a regular reader of that site. I don't listen to Fullcast, but Nanni was one of their bigger personalities as well, really strange moves. Hope it doesn't affect their coverage too much because SBNation was really the only cfb news site I liked
As I understand it, Solid Verbal will be fine as it predated Dan's time at SB Nation and it was always a side project with Ty and him. But obviously he can't live off that alone and needs to find a new main job too.
Fullcast is more interesting, assuming Ryan is gone as all 3 of them are/were SB Nation guys and it started there, though they brought ESPN guys and gals on from time to time.
Fullcast is honestly the one I'm more worried about Solid Verbal is fine and the best in terms of production values, but it never had the deep analysis of Podcast Aint Played Nobody, or the humor or self awareness of Shutdown Fullcast despite Ty and Dan both being very knowledgeable and witty guys it just felt very bland at times.
Yeah, i have no doubt that the Solid Verbal will stick around, it's always been a side-gig for both of them so I don't see much changing there. It just seemed SBNation got a lot of free publicity out of the deal that might not happen now. Personally, I think they're ideal as a general overview, even if they're not the funniest or the most insightful they strike a nice middle ground and the running segments and continued gags are just a part of the college football ritual for me. PAPN is the other one I consistently listen to and they obviously are much better for in-depth analysis and info, they weren't affected directly, but they did seem fairly despondent over it on the latest episode. I've always meant to give Fullcast more of a chance, but I really don't need that many cfb podcasts.
Fullcast isn't really a CFB podcast per se, it's more of trolling podcast. You should listen.
This sucks. Really love Rubenstein and Nanni's content. Love the Solid Verbal and the Shutdown Fullcast. Really hope that Nanni wasn't one of the ones laid off. I know it probably won't affect the Solid Verbal as much as the Fullcast because the Solid Verbal isn't an SB Nation podcast, but I really hope the Shutdown Fullcast is able to continue with the same three guys. By far my favorite "college football" podcast, even if they spend time summarizing the Godfather in 17 seconds or discussing what US senators would be the best and worst at playing football.
The time they got into relating CFB programs with different supermarket chains may be some of the best podcasting ive ever listened to. Especially when they realized that with Orson Wells they could spot a Wisconsin man from decades away!
That or the breakdown of Popeye's chicken and in particular the Atlanta Airport one!
I had been keeping an eye on this hoping this would not be the case. I know the Solid Verbal is going to be fine since it was written into Dan's contract that he could still work on it and it was separate from his SB Nation work.
If Ryan is gone, I don't think Shutdown Fullcast survives. Despite the words to the contrary, he was the only one that actually cared about the quality of the podcast. Without him, I think it'll devolve into 60 minutes static, a dog howling in the background and maybe a jet engine at close range.
Now I'm just waiting for them to announce that they have joined The Athletic...
Edit: I guess this is the wrong time to bring up that I don't think I ever got my charity drive ad read...
I'd probably still listen
/s Thanks Jason
The real tragedy would be that it ends without them ever going to the all you can eat Popeye's in Lafayette Louisiana.
I might have missed it, but neither or those two links mentioned Nanni. Is that pure speculation at this point?
I believe it is all based on the fact he hasn't tweeted since the layoffs were announced - but that's it.
To update Matt Ufford is gone too: https://twitter.com/mattufford
He didn't do as much CFB stuff but was more NFL side and general sports coverage, and was again very involved on the video and production side of things.
Statement from Dan
Also, word on the internet streets is that Nanni is still employed by SB Nation.
Honestly I wonder if The Solid Verbal goes for it full time. I know Ty has said they want to keep it a side thing, but I hope they can figure out the monetization of it. I love the show and gives a great national perspective. Best of luck to him.