Sports Online
Vox Media Layoffs Hit SB Nation Hard
“Not only are many writers and podcasters out, Awful Announcing reports that SB Nation’s coverage of hockey and soccer have taken major hits.”

Published
2 weeks agoon
By
BSM Staff
More layoffs hit Vox Media on Friday. The company laid off 7% of its workforce. That amounted to nearly 130 employees. A number of SB Nation employees took to social media to announce they were victims of the cuts.
Yup, got laid off today. Gonna miss working with all the talented folks at @secretbase but I know they'll keep kicking ass.
— Ryan Nanni (@celebrityhottub) January 20, 2023
Not sure what's next! But if you wanna chat about something, email me at ryan.nanni@gmail.com
Some personal news… pic.twitter.com/PDkuI0hPmm
— Rob “Stats” Guerrera (@StatsOnFire) January 20, 2023
I've been let go by @SBNation / @voxmedia after 7+ years.
— Hector Diaz (@iamHectorDiaz) January 20, 2023
SB Nation had all-world talents throughout those years and it still does. I’m just happy to have played a small role in it.
Today I have been laid off. I always thought I would leave Vox and SB Nation of my own accord, but today they chose to move away from hockey coverage.
— Steph Driver (@StephaliciousD) January 20, 2023
I don't know what is next for me, I'm a little shellshocked tbh, but here we are. Steph Driver is on the market. https://t.co/Ncg3cZzlsX
i was part of today's layoffs. we did a lot of good shit in my 5+ years at sb nation and i'm really proud.
— hayleykat (@HayleyKArcher) January 20, 2023
social teams do so much more than people realize. they truly have their hand in every single part of a company. invest in your social team, then trust and believe in them. https://t.co/CDuHsRlTY2
Well, to this point I've dodged the emails and calls but apparently my luck has run out. My time at Vox has come to a close.
— Anthony F. Irwin (@AnthonyIrwinLA) January 20, 2023
I have been extraordinarily blessed to head the pod team @LakersSBN, a site I've helped grow into the monster it is today.
Today I have been laid off. I always thought I would leave Vox and SB Nation of my own accord, but today they chose to move away from hockey coverage.
— Steph Driver (@StephaliciousD) January 20, 2023
I don't know what is next for me, I'm a little shellshocked tbh, but here we are. Steph Driver is on the market. https://t.co/Ncg3cZzlsX
Woke up to an email that I’m part of the layoffs at Vox. Shout to my amazing coworkers @hmfaigen @PaulHudrick @AnthonyIrwinLA @BradyKlopferNBA @StatsOnFire the rest of the team and crew @Liberty_Ballers looking forward to what comes next!
— Jas Kang (@jaskang21) January 20, 2023
Hey fam. Kelly here. Just needed to say a couple of things. As you now know, Vox Media has decided to no longer support the existence of Broad Street Hockey. Why? Can't tell you.
— Broad Street Hockey (@BroadStHockey) January 20, 2023
I honestly don't know what this means. For the site. For our writers. For me. I don't know.
Not only are many writers and podcasters out, but Awful Announcing also reports that SB Nation’s coverage of hockey and soccer has taken major hits. Entire team sites have been gutted and/or shut down.
The Twitter account for Massive Report, an SB Nation blog covering the Columbus Crew, reports that the site is no longer hosting any MLS team blogs.
We have been made aware that VOX (which owns SB Nation) will no longer support MLS sites due to the economic climate. We are not sure what this means going forward and are working behind the scenes to figure out what's next. https://t.co/xVi7QjLkjc
— Massive Report (@MassiveReport) January 20, 2023
Jim Bankoff, CEO of Vox Media, told staffers that the publishing industry is facing a “challenging economic environment”. The cuts are being made to adjust to those realities.
Vox Media’s union addressed the layoffs in a tweet. The organization says it is “furious at the way the company has approached these layoffs, and are currently discussing how to best serve those who just lost their jobs.”
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Bomani Jones: Chris Canty Made Me Rethink How I Look At This Job
“You’ve heard me say this before. I have a particular respect for former athletes that get in and treat this job with care like in the same way they would the other job.”

Published
2 days agoon
February 3, 2023By
BSM Staff
The Right Time with Bomani Jones has been one of ESPN’s most successful podcasts recently. Part of the appeal is that the conversations can go anywhere. Jones and his guests talk plenty about sports, but they will venture into pop culture, current events, and more. When it is “Foxworth Friday”, there is a good chance that the show will give some insight on other ESPN personalities.
On the most recent edition of The Right Time, Bomani Jones and Domonique Foxworth discussed how hard it can be to come up with a unique view on a topic every single time you are asked to talk about it. When Foxworth said that ESPN Radio’s Chris Canty makes it a little easier for him to be entertaining in those moments, Jones added to the praise.
He discussed a conversation he and Canty had at a Halloween party hosted by FOX’s Nick Wright.
“You’ve heard me say this before. I have a particular respect for former athletes that get in and treat this job with care like in the same way they would the other job,” Jones said. “Chris was like ‘Hey man’. You know, he’s got a Super Bowl ring, but he’s like ‘I didn’t get a gold jacket. I wasn’t great at that. But this? I have a chance to be great at something else.’”
Bomani Jones was impressed by that attitude. He admitted that it was eye-opening.
“That really made me look back at how I do my job and was like ‘Yo, I need to be looking at this in a very similar way.’”
Foxworth agreed. He said that it isn’t hard to believe that Chris Canty wants to be great on TV and radio. It is easy to see when he is making an effort to get better.
“He works at it and he doesn’t rely on just one move,” Foxworth said. “Using the basketball analogy, he’s adding new stuff to his game.”
Chris Canty clearly has fans in Bristol. ESPN keeps finding ways to use him across multiple platforms. In addition to his daily ESPN Radio show with Chris Carlin, he also makes regular appearances on Get Up with Mike Greenberg.
Sports Online
Dave Portnoy Drops Appeal Of Lawsuit Against Business Insider
“In dropping the suit, both Portnoy and Insider have agreed to pay their own legal fees according to Awful Announcing.”

Published
2 days agoon
February 3, 2023By
BSM Staff
Dave Portnoy is done with his legal fight against Insider. He filed an appeal after a judge dismissed his initial defamation suit in November. That appeal has been dropped.
Nich Carlson, the Global Editor-in-Chief of Insider, took to Twitter Friday to announce that the legal standoff had come to an end. He also notes that Insider is not surprised by the decision. The company stands by the reporting in the initial story, in which multiple women alleged that sexual encounters with Portnoy turned “violent and humiliating”. It was one of two stories the site published featuring these kinds of accusations against Portnoy.
Both sides will move on. In dropping the suit, both Portnoy and Insider have agreed to pay their own legal fees according to Awful Announcing.
In November, a Massachusetts judge ruled that Portnoy would have to prove that Insider acted with “actual malice” in publishing the stories. That was going to be a high bar considering that Dave Portnoy is a public figure.
Neither he nor his legal team have publicly commented about the status of the lawsuit.
Sports Online
Nick Wright: Majority of Media Got Tom Brady Retirement Story Wrong
“I don’t think people understand that these are not easy decisions.”

Published
2 days agoon
February 3, 2023By
BSM Staff
The news of the retirement of Tom Brady wasn’t the most shocking development, but FS1 host Nick Wright believes the way some of media coverage around Brady evolved wasn’t handled correctly.
During his What’s Wright? with Nick Wright podcast, Wright argued that those who have been given tremendous talents are put in different situations than those who weren’t, stopping just short of saying Brady had a duty to continue to perform his craft. He later added that those joking about Brady’s marriage failing for an extra season in the league weren’t viewing the entire picture, and that the divorce wasn’t something worth joking about.
“I see a lot of stuff people are saying about Brady, and I think it’s bullshit,” Wright said. “‘Oh, you sacrificed your marriage to 8-9’. And I don’t think people understand that these are not easy decisions. These are not easy things, and people know we know we are at times putting yourself first, in a selfish way that you’re not supposed to as a parent.”
The First Things First host then said the situation is similar to one he experienced as a child, but grew to realize there were bigger things than simply being a parent.
“It’s what I learned from my own dad. My own dad — who I have massive admiration for — absolutely put me and my sister — at times — on the backburner to negotatioting the best bargain possible for the Kansas City Firefighters. His legacy — he’s a great dad, who I adore — (but) his life’s legacy is not the things he did for me and my sister, his real legacy is the things he did for those firefighters and their families. You have those push and pull things and you make decisions and you deal with the fallout of it. It’s really sad that he and Gisele didn’t make it.”
I think the majority of the media has gotten the Tom Brady retirement story wrong. I greatly empathize with what he was going through, and I got quite emotional when discussing my own similar family struggles. We discuss it here. pic.twitter.com/Mx5vJIga9K
— nick wright (@getnickwright) February 3, 2023