AOL Fanhouse to Become The Sporting News on AOL
by Bloody Elbow on Jan 14, 2011 9:15 PM EST
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This is a guest feature by Zak Woods, formerly of WatchKalibRun.
A major upheaval in digital sports media occurred this past Thursday. AOL Fanhouse, home of MMAFighting.com, is set to partner with the Sporting News.
According to Terry Lefton, of the Sports Business Daily, the Fanhouse brand will disappear over the coming weeks leaving the "Sporting News on AOL" which will " give the venerable sports brand instant digital relevance."
The shocking news of a partnership left many long-term Fanhouse contributors wondering about their future employment status. Rumors immediately began to surface that a significant change in staffing, which was soon followed by a report from Sports by Brooks confirming an upcoming change in staff.
A current Fanhouse writer told me today that March was the target date for staffing changes to take effect. From same source: "Nobody's been officially fired, but it appears Sporting News doesn't plan on hiring many Fanhouse folks."
Brooks later followed that report with a tweet stating that only 5-6 of the 26 full time writers would be retained by the Sporting News.
MMA fans on social media sites, such as Twitter, asked the staff of MMA Fighting how this partnership would affect the future of the site.
While staff members were unable to provide an official response Graham James of AOL confirmed to SB Nation that MMA Fighting (http://www.mmafighting.com/) will, "remain a dedicated source of MMA news."
The Sporting News does not have consistent nor dedicated MMA coverage one could speculate that few changes will occur at MMA Fighting. However AOL, MMA Fighting and Sporting News officials were unable to comment at this time on the future status of staff members during this period of transition.
The Fanhouse was internally developed at AOL by Jamie Mottram who would go on to found the Yahoo! Sports blog network. Since Mottram's departure Fanhouse has departed from it's web-roots to a more traditional newspaper theme, even hiring many old guard sports writers such a Jay Marrioti.
For readers unaware of The Sporting News, the bi-weekly magazine is a prime example of old guard media. Established in 1886 The Sporting News was once the only source for national sports media coverage prior to the rise of ESPN and other national publications, such as USA Today. In recent years TSN has been expanding it's online brand with the decline in publishing.
Full Disclosure: SB Nation bought The Sporting News web-centric entity The Sporting Blog in July of 2010 and the site was discontinued. Several writers were brought on to SB Nation while others were let go.
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Just something to add...
Ariel Helwani tweeted yesterday
To those asking about how today’s FanHouse news affects the @mmafighting team, we are told everything will remain status quo for us.
So take that for what it is. Maybe the MMAFighting crew are the 5-6 staying on.
The new editor of HeadKickLegend.com
Follow me on twitter @HeadKickLegend
Cagepotato might be getting “Old Dad” back.
Not that I condone facism or any ism for that matter. Isms are in my opinion, not good. A person shouldn't believe in an ism, he should believe in himself.
I quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me". Good point there, after all he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. Wouldn't change the fact I have to bum rides off of people.
So how does this affect who Michael David Smith shills for?
"I believe that our founding fathers had it right. We need to get back to their America. No paved roads, rum used as an anesthetic, legalized slavery!"
"Unfortunately, it won’t shut anyone up, but if (the Falcons) get a Lombardi, I’m going to spend all of 2011 not giving a rat’s ass what anyone says." – Dave Choate
by Anthony Pace on Jan 14, 2011 9:22 PM EST reply actions 2 recs
Shills
People really need to stop calling others they disagree with shills.
Ok
Don’t see how that applies here.
Contributor at cagepages.com Come check us out.
Head Kick Legend
by Neil Manich on Jan 14, 2011 10:02 PM EST up reply actions
Quit shilling for shills.
Seriously, this has become a very over used word of late.
by BJJDenver on Jan 14, 2011 10:41 PM EST up reply actions 3 recs
This could be big changes
Fanhouse employs quite a few big names, including the aforementioned MDS and Ariel Helwani. Will SBNation and/or BE look into having some of these and the other folks there come write for this site?
http://mixedmartialartsblogger.wordpress.com/
by Cory Braiterman on Jan 14, 2011 9:29 PM EST reply actions
Ariel is definitely not giving up his credentials.
Contributor at cagepages.com Come check us out.
Head Kick Legend
Is dead tree sports going to want moving electron sports though? That might be a little to radical for dead tree sports.
by fitefan on Jan 14, 2011 9:47 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
You can bet...
…there will be a lot more of us at shows in 2011. Bank on it.
Follow me on Twitter: @MMANation.
by Luke Thomas on Jan 15, 2011 12:37 PM EST up reply actions
did anyone see the bloody elbow shout out on inside mma?
New England Patriots: We don't rebuild, we reload
did Sergio Non mention the rankings?
Follow me on Twitter @KidNate
by Nate Wilcox on Jan 15, 2011 11:40 AM EST up reply actions
Great
I already can’t get a paying gig and now there will be more talented people to contend with. Fuck.
Luke: What was our best moment?
Nate: When I banned Subo?
Luke: That was a good one.
When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are in a confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
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Still Subo at Fightlinker.com
by Derek Suboticki on Jan 14, 2011 9:51 PM EST reply actions
god bless the internet
New England Patriots: We don't rebuild, we reload
by Austin Martin on Jan 14, 2011 9:55 PM EST up reply actions 1 recs
everything you write is utterly predictable, hopefully you never get a “paying gig”.
by kp82 on Jan 15, 2011 1:23 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs
Sporting News hates MMA and won't cover MMA and here's why
Sporting News is “old guard sports media” as the article mentioned and they won’t report on MMA because they stick with what they have had since the beginning and that is football, basketball, baseball, and auto racing.
THey don’t cover MMA, golf, tennis, or the Olympics and they never have and never will. They been doing this for decades and they are old fashioned media.
They cover MMA daily...
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
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"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
by Urijah Bieber on Jan 14, 2011 10:11 PM EST up reply actions
by daily I mean never
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
by Urijah Bieber on Jan 14, 2011 10:26 PM EST up reply actions
Caught yourself in knots?
Seahawks 41 Saints 36: Beast Mode.
by SSreporters on Jan 14, 2011 10:33 PM EST up reply actions
Yep.
The Go2 sports pages are all from sporting news but the MMA page and it was never made clear until I did some digging. I decided to check myself while simultaneously wrecking myself. It happens. A lot.
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
by Urijah Bieber on Jan 14, 2011 10:44 PM EST up reply actions
I could find no MMA section on the sporting news section.
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
by Urijah Bieber on Jan 14, 2011 10:16 PM EST up reply actions
Sounds like they need to die off then.
Follow me on Twitter @lelandroling
"Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe." - Albert Einstein
by Leland Roling on Jan 15, 2011 1:26 AM EST up reply actions
Sporting News Radio had me on their programming to talk MMA well over 10 times.
Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
MMA Editor - SBNation.com
by Brent Brookhouse on Jan 15, 2011 9:53 AM EST up reply actions
I hope the MMA writers Sporting News was using as of late last Spring do not replace any of the Fanhouse guys
their articles power the go2 mobile network which is free to all Sprint customers and I used to read them on my work Nextel even if I didn’t have my cellphone. They were extremely Anti-Fedor and below the quality of MMAfighting.com for sure. No way they’ll get rid of Ariel. No way.
Here is the internet version of their content but it’s basically the same thing that pops up even on simple mobile browsers -
I haven’t checked their site in probably 8 months though.
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
Shit, nevermind
Looks like go2 gets all sports content other than MMA from sporting news, who ignore it entirely. Props to Go2media for bringing coverage to a sport their major partners won’t cover.
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
by Urijah Bieber on Jan 14, 2011 10:26 PM EST up reply actions
Does anyone know the nature of the relationship between go2 media and sporting news?
I assumed sporting news ran all the sports content but looking into this now, maybe they only partner on non mma related sports…
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
The last six comments were Urijah Bieber…
Not that I condone facism or any ism for that matter. Isms are in my opinion, not good. A person shouldn't believe in an ism, he should believe in himself.
I quote John Lennon, "I don't believe in Beatles, I just believe in me". Good point there, after all he was the walrus. I could be the walrus. Wouldn't change the fact I have to bum rides off of people.
by Sam Cupitt on Jan 14, 2011 10:31 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
Nothing to see here
Contributor at cagepages.com Come check us out.
Head Kick Legend
by Neil Manich on Jan 14, 2011 10:39 PM EST up reply actions 4 recs
:(
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
by Urijah Bieber on Jan 14, 2011 10:42 PM EST up reply actions
rec'd
just go green already…
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
by Urijah Bieber on Jan 15, 2011 1:11 AM EST up reply actions
all fail
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
by Urijah Bieber on Jan 15, 2011 1:10 AM EST up reply actions
Nearly all of Fanhouse is horrendous and slightly above the Yahoo Sports Blogs
But I love MMA Fighting and I don’t want to see it go away. Ariel kicks ass. That whole staff is good and I hope they get to keep afloat under whatever platform.
Seahawks 41 Saints 36: Beast Mode.
I think they're smart to recognize that they need to compete in today's market with modern coverage
I don’t know if they’d buy a major internet site like that just to 1970s-up the coverage. Would seem like a counter-intuitive move. They’ll probably(by this I mean hopefully) fire a bunch of the hacks from the other sites in favor of their in house people while keeping MMAfighting status quo as Ariel said they would. They’re probably(again, hopefully) smart enough to realize MMAfighting is one of the best sites in this business and is very well respected and they could use that to instantly gain a strong foothold in a sport they otherwise have absolutely no connections or claws into. Maybe they’ll add an MMA page to the sporting news site proper. This could end up being a lot like Sherdog being contracted by ESPN to provide their coverage.
As my minor Go2media fiasco above illustrates, they’re missing out on a share of the sports market entirely to the point their digital partners have to form secondary relationships to meet the demand for MMA coverage. The wrinkly old fucks who run that place may not like MMA, but they like money.
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
by Urijah Bieber on Jan 14, 2011 10:58 PM EST up reply actions
Honestly
I sometimes forget there are other MMA sites besides BE.
If it seems like everyone around you is an asshole, you are probably an asshole.
by judonerd on Jan 14, 2011 10:54 PM EST reply actions 1 recs
I rarely go anywhere else besides BE anymore besides the blogs I write for
especially since WKR died. Zak Woods write anywhere else?
Stopped going to Sherdog, fiveounces, cagepotato and similar places a while ago and even junkie here lately. I only return to those places to plug my own stuff. Still check ESPN from time to time out of the morbid curiosity/MMA-fan-persecution-complex to see how they’re treating the sport and also to post in my old stomping grounds on the forums there.
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
by Urijah Bieber on Jan 14, 2011 11:50 PM EST up reply actions
Thanks!
My personal belief is that the MMA Fighting staff will be mostly safe.
The question is whether or not they reduce staff to reduce costs. It is expensive sending a video reporter, videographer, photographer and feature writer to every UFC/MMA event in North America. In addition to employing several writers who recap fights from their home.
It will be interesting to see what happens.
why did you leave WKR and do you have a new blog?
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
by Urijah Bieber on Jan 15, 2011 6:19 PM EST up reply actions
But…but…aren’t they the site that this blog just copies and pastes from???
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better. -Samuel Beckett
Reasoning will never make a man correct an ill opinion, which by reasoning he never acquired. -Jonathan Swift
by Scott C. Broussard on Jan 15, 2011 9:36 AM EST up reply actions
You're not doing anything for my self-esteem
"I believe that our founding fathers had it right. We need to get back to their America. No paved roads, rum used as an anesthetic, legalized slavery!"
"Unfortunately, it won’t shut anyone up, but if (the Falcons) get a Lombardi, I’m going to spend all of 2011 not giving a rat’s ass what anyone says." – Dave Choate
by Anthony Pace on Jan 15, 2011 3:01 PM EST up reply actions
one of the tools from Around the Horn right?
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
by Urijah Bieber on Jan 15, 2011 12:31 AM EST up reply actions
this sucks all around man what will Areil do if he dosen't have his radio show?
Twitter @MaZZM
http://mazznettt.blogspot.com/
Ariel will just get a gig elsewhere
He’s industry fo life.
Contributor at Unintelligent Defense
Lead Blogger at Ninja's Place
"...just when you think you’ve produced your magnum opus, someone shows up and takes a giant shit in your mouth. In your mouth." - Anthony Pace
Don't eat B.L.T. sammaches
by Urijah Bieber on Jan 15, 2011 5:12 AM EST up reply actions
Also
Jaime and Chris Mottrom are now at SB Nation. We’re taking over, motherfuckers. I can’t wait to prove it to you.
Follow me on Twitter: @MMANation.
Only a handful of MMA media people can do that now. I remember being offered a job that a well known MMA guy is in. I asked for a number – the boss looked at me like i was crazy and said "I don’t make that. " that’s when I decided to be pro-am instead.
by Jonathan Snowden on Jan 17, 2011 9:32 AM EST up reply actions
Shocking
This is almost like a telegraph company buying a cell-phone provider and then firing everyone who knows how to make cell phones.
Ariel said MMA Fighting wouldn’t change, which makes sense — it’s an area they’ll want to keep. But I feel horrible for other folks there, and I feel let down as a FanHouse reader.
Yahoo’s blog are erratic. I like Cagewriter and, oddly enough, their tennis blog.
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