The majority of writers and editors who quit working at Deadspin last year after being told to “stick to sports” by management have banded together to start a new digital media company they will own and operate themselves.
Defector Media will start a podcast next month and begin populating its website with content in September with Tom Ley, a former features editor at Deadspin, serving as the editor in chief.
“This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company,” according to the site. “We made this play together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion and without interference.”
Each Defector employee owns a stake of roughly five percent in the company and there are no outside investors, according to The New York Times. Instead of relying on ad revenue, Defector will offer subscriptions at $8 per month with an annual subscription available at a discounted rate.
“A lot of us felt adrift,” Ley told The Times. “If we felt that way, it’s likely there are pretty significant numbers of former readers who felt that way and would be willing to pay money to have that kind of publication come back.”
A retooled version of Deadspin that was launched by parent company G/O Media under the leadership of former New York Daily News editor Jim Rich is still publishing online.
In other sports media news, a group of local publications from across the country including The Boston Globe, Dallas Morning News, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer and Tampa Bay Times are launching a new effort to compete with subscription outlets like The Athletic.
The alliance of publishers will be launching “The Matchup,” which will allow subscribers to see local coverage of teams from across the country.
“Local news organizations have a higher volume of sports content than really anybody out there, but it’s segmented by market,” Mike Orren, chief product officer of The Dallas Morning News, told Variety.“This is basically the equivalent of ESPN.com or Yahoo Sports or The Athletic, but fueled by the content of all of our members — newspapers, radio stations and TV stations.”
Subscribe here for our free daily newsletter.
Whether you’re looking to get into shape, or just get out of a funk, The Charge has got you covered. Sign up for our new wellness newsletter today.
