On Tuesday a new sports blog popped up on the internet, one created by a familiar cast of characters: The site is called Defector, and it is made up of former writers and editors of Deadspin, including Drew Magary, Diana Moskovitz, David Roth, and Ray Ratto.
These are many of the same writers and editors who quit Deadspin en masse after multiple clashes with new management at G/O Media, clashes that led to the resignation of one top editor — Megan Greenwell — and the firing of the site’s interim editor, Barry Petchesky.
Defector will be owned by the 19 employees of the company, who each have a roughly 5% share. For initial investment, they are relying on reader support — with the site’s launch, the staff have invited readers to subscribe at different tiers ranging from $8 a month and up, with discounts for annual subscriptions.
The site’s new editor-in-chief will be Tom Ley, and the business side will be run by longtime reader (and former Bain & Company employee) Jasper Wang. Both Ley and Wang can be voted out of their roles with a 2/3 staff vote.
FTW had an email exchange with Defector staffer Luis Paez-Pumar about the site’s genesis.
Paez-Pumar said that the discussions began in earnest about forming a new site “since the week we quit, really,” which was back in November of 2019. “To make it happen,” he continued, “we needed first to figure out if we wanted to do something together, what that would look like, and then eventually how it would operate. So, the discussions around worker-owned vs. investments took some time, but we decided this was the best and most righteous way for us.”
When asked about the content on the new site, Paez-Pumar said that “it should feel like home” for readers of the old Deadspin, but he also said that independence will allow for greater creativity: “I think having the freedom to experiment is what will be most exciting for us and for readers.”
It should be stated: Deadspin still exists. It was relaunched in early 2020 with an entirely new staff, and has struggled to capture the original audience or spirit of the site since. Awful Announcing reported that Deadspin’s traffic cratered when the staff quit in November, and has struggled to rebound since the re-launch.
When asked how he thought the current Deadspin staffers would react to the news that Defector was launching, Paez-Pumar responded: “I don’t care, really.”
[lawrence-related id=867266]
[jwplayer ejqSDp2x-q2aasYxh]