Is This What Deadspin Is Now?

The second iteration of Deadspin ended yesterday as news broke that G/O Media had sold the property to Lineup Publishing, a European firm with a spartan website that only revealed it may or may not have something to do with Malta. None of Deadspin's 11 staffers were retained. "While the new owners play to be reverential to Deadspin's unique voice, they plan to take a different content approach regarding the site's overall sports coverage," G/O Media CEO Jim Spanfeller wrote in a note to employees. Which sparked some genuine curiosity because what could that possibly mean?

We may have a better idea this morning as visitors to Deadspin are greeted with nine stories above the fold. Currently the lead is Reports: Jets add Tyrod Taylor as backup QB. It has a Field Level Media byline, as do everything else on the page, from After losing Alperen Sengun, Rockets square off with Spurs to Rangers visit Hurricanes for big Metro showdown to NHL roundup: Kings' shutout snaps Isles' win streak. And to Field Level Media's credit, they are well-written wire stories — the type a reader might expect to see from the Associated Press or whatever they are calling the ESPN news operation these days or, in some cases, as part of a newspaper's agate page. This, quite obviously, is a stark departure from the previous writing Deadspin was known for, which is even in its second act was driven by some sort of personality.

Field Level Media's site says it "was founded by sports media executives with more than 40 years of combined experience working with the most influential media companies in the industry" with "more than 200 journalists across North America and Europe producing both national and hyper-local content." They syndicate over 30,000 stories per year with a staff that can produce made-to-order projects for partners. A list of featured clients on top of their site includes Yardbarker, Reuters, and The Epoch times. All in all, it seems like an impressive operation — even if it is tough as a blogger to see them explicitly state We are journalists, not bloggers on prime page real estate. That stings a bit.

Lineup Publishing has yet to shed any light on their plans for Deadspin and none of us should be holding our breath on that changing. So it's entirely possible that what's going on right now is just a stop-gap until a more comprehensive editorial plan can be put in place. And to be perfectly clear, there's certainly a place for syndication in concert with more original reporting, features, and whatever else can be done to make a website unique. But if this is the entirety of the plan, it's just a bit confusing because why would a person read something on Deadspin when they could just read everything on FLM's site?

What part of that is being reverential to any type of voice? It's Day One so it's not fair at all to judge right now but it was still surprising to see such a left turn in approach. Or at the very least, this seems like an interesting strategy. If it is, in fact, the strategy.