Ever since Nate Silver revealed he was likely to leave FiveThirtyEight when his current contract ended, the fate of the political/sports data-driven site has been up in the air. An ABC News spokesperson said in April the site would operate in a “streamline structure” through the 2024 presidential election, but who knows after that.
One notable feature that sports fans, and sports media people, loved was their sports forecasts. Whether you agreed or disagreed with their findings, FiveThirtyEight’s constantly updated forecasts were always a source of content and debate within the sports world.
That appears to be gone as FiveThirtyEight’s Ryan Best tweeted, “After the recent layoffs and organizational decisions from Disney/ABC News, the team is officially no longer maintaining or supporting our sports forecasts.”
Today was a very sad day over @FiveThirtyEight. After the recent layoffs and organizational decisions from Disney/ABC News, the team is officially no longer maintaining or supporting our sports forecasts.
— Ryan Best (@ryanabest) June 22, 2023
Sure enough, if you visit FiveThirtyEight, all of their forecasts are off the homepage. Their sports section only has the NBA, which just has the Denver Nuggets winning the NBA Finals. Some people noticed that on the direct page itself, there’s a message across the top that says, “This page is frozen as of June 21, 2023, and will no longer be updated.”
https://twitter.com/The_Terroirist/status/1671607632384147456?s=20
This doesn’t bode well with the future of the site. Sure, politics is FiveThirtyEight’s bread and butter, but this was a popular feature for the rest of the time when we’re not facing an upcoming election.
Disney seems committed to keeping FiveThirtyEight going through the 2024 election, and that makes sense. The question is what happens after the election? Will Disney keep the site going as is? Will they eliminate sports and go politics-only? Will they shutter the entire operation? Your guess is as good as mine.
[Ryan Best/Photo: @The_Terroirist]
About Phillip Bupp
Producer/editor of the Awful Announcing Podcast and Short and to the Point. News editor for The Comeback and Awful Announcing. Highlight consultant for Major League Soccer as well as a freelance writer for hire. Opinions are my own but feel free to agree with them.
Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @phillipbupp