Length isn’t always the best determination of quality, and SOE ran plenty of shorter pieces that were also unique and interesting. Yes, sites can survive and thrive without giving into the lowest common denominator, but is setting a substantially higher bar something that can work? It didn’t for Sports on Earth in the end, and there aren’t a lot of other standalone sites that really focus on producing only longform or only original content. Medium’s The Cauldron is an interesting new take on the idea, with an impressive list of names including executive editor Andy Glockner (formerly of SI), Jack Moore and Tim Ryan, and it’s shown some potential. Vice’s efforts to establish its sports brand have also seen notable success; this piece from Robert Silverman to young bloggers looking to break in is particularly good. The Classical and The Sports Fan Journal are also well worth reading for those looking for impressive original content. However, while all these sites have the potential to succeed on their own and to do so without resorting to the lowest common denominator, none looks like a guaranteed smash hit from a business standpoint just yet.
Some of the most impressive and orginal longform out there right now comes from larger companies that have dedicated subsites to it. SB Nation’s (edited by Glenn Stout of The Best American Sportswriting) and SI’s efforts particularly stand out. Both are delivering quality stories, often with multimedia components, and they’re stories that deserve the space. However, their efforts demonstrate the accuracy of the comments by Nasrallah and Littal. Nasrallah’s take that, “The biggest problem here is that we still have not yet figured out the optimal way to profitably distribute quality content. Since cognitive skidmarks like slideshows and lists are cheap to produce and humans are helpless against the charms of rubbernecking, that’s exactly what’s winning out among media assets” has merit, and it’s part of why we’re not seeing more longform. SI and SB Nation’s longform efforts are impressive, but are they making a profit, or are they working just as the high-quality part of a larger company, good for drawing attention but not necessarily self-supporting? (Interestingly enough, that’s a similar debate to ESPN’s dichotomy with Outside The Lines.)
Do companies need to find better ways to advertise on or distribute longform to make it self-supporting? Or is the solution from Littal’s defence of his own strategy, “You ever consider all those one paragraph posts were done so I’d have an audience to post a 2000 word one and have people pay attention on a serious subject?”
Is a certain amount of corporate tail and quicker, larger-audience posts necessary to support the head of longform and other diverse, original content? Or will one of the newer sites focusing solely on that hit it big? We’ll have to wait and see to find out.
What also deserves mention with Sports on Earth is that it found success by showcasing original voices. Personally, founding columnist Joe Posnanski remains one of my favourite sportswriters, and SOE led me to the work of another favourite, Tommy Tomlinson. Both left SOE a while ago, as did impressive writer/editor Emma Span, but the site continued to showcase some other great writers, including Patrick Hruby and Matt Brown. Hopefully they and the others who lost their jobs will land in good places. SOE should be remembered for the voices it had, and the new version should be given a chance; it sounds like they’re keeping Will Leitch and Mike Tanier at least, so there will definitely still be some good writing there.
The restructuring of Sports on Earth is far from a death knell for the internet media world, and it’s far from an indication that we’re about to descend into a hellscape of “tits, asses and scandal.” However, it does illustrate the difficulties of competing in a crowded media landscape, and the particular difficulties of trying to do so with longform and/or highly original content. Perhaps the solution is to do so in a new way, as sites like The Cauldron and Vice are trying. Perhaps the solution is to change the way longform content is marketed and advertised. Perhaps the solution is to have longform as part of a larger media empire. We don’t really know right now. All we know is that while the old Sports on Earth is dead, the report of longform’s death and the death of quality sportswriting was an exaggeration.
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