Tuesday, news started to spread that an old staple was about to emerge in the sports blogging world to the delight of some readers and perhaps to the dismay of organizations and main stream sports media alike.
That news?
Nineteen former Deadspin staffers who bolted the company last year are just about set to launch a revamped version of the website fittingly known as “Defector” which will take on the feel of old Deadspin which went back and forth between sports and whatever else is happening in this fucked up world we live in.
Among the names involved in this new venture include Drew Magary, Diana Moskovitz, David Roth, and Ray Ratto. Notably, it was old Deadspin staffers who resigned in mass after a very public clash with G/O Media who took over ownership of the blog and wanted to change the direction of the site to a watered-down sports website that stuck to just that. This clash eventually led to the further resignation of top editor Megan Greenwell — and the firing of the site’s interim editor, Barry Petchesky.
The new website — which is set to launch in August — will reportedly be subscription based. Plans start at $8 a month with a discount offered if you subscribe annually. Furthermore, aside from not being handcuffed by corporate bullshit, the other cool aspect about this new project is it will essentially be horizontally run. Each employee will own five percent of the company and have the opportunity to oust editor-in-chief Tom Ley and Jasper Wang with a 2/3 vote.
As far as Deadspin currently goes. It’s still around, to some extent after reemerging with a new scab staff with their own relaunch that happened earlier this year. Awful Announcing reported that Deadspin’s traffic took a nose dive since the staff left last year and since the relaunch earlier in 2020, it has failed to generate any substantial buzz that would help make up for lost readers. Not to mention the feel of the new Deadspin seems a little staged or perhaps for better comparison, it’s the blog equivalent to the Steve Buscemi meme who tries to make an appeal to the “fellow kids”.
Nonetheless it’ll be interesting to see if those current Deadspin traffic numbers continue to tailspin, with the Defect launch and if fans of the old site are willing to hand over at least $8 a month for unique sports content.
