After 26 months operating as an independent platform (our first newsletter was published on August 17, 2017), JohnWallStreet (JWS) has a new home.
It was the goal from day one to align our brand with a strategic partner who would share in our vision – to leverage our deep rolodex of sports business professionals to create engaging, thoughtful, insightful content – so we’re excited to announce that JohnWallStreet is now part of the Sports Illustrated family operating on TheMaven platform. As of last evening, the website johnwallstreet.com has been pointed over to its new domain SI.com/johnwallstreet.
Sports Illustrated is entering a new chapter, but what remains constant is the iconic brand’s reputation for quality reporting and its team full of talented writers. If there was any doubt that S.I. would remain an influential sports media outlet, Stephanie Apstein’s report on former Astros assistant GM Brandon Taubman certainly put an end to it.
Being associated with a revamped Sports Illustrated should help on several fronts.
- Distribution: Not only will our content be disseminated across S.I.’s digital and social channels (@SInow has 1.8M followers), but it will be spread across the company’s sister-site TheStreet (a finance and investing community) and their social platforms (@TheStreet has 675.5K followers). With a focus on stories at the intersection of sports and finance, it’s logical that JWS content would be valued by both publications’ audiences. We certainly welcome the expanded reach and the added window.
- Infrastructure: A lack of resources has prevented JWS from regularly publishing video and podcast content to date. As part of our partnership with TheMaven, we will have access to a professional television studio (and all that goes along with it, including: producers, video editors and technical directors) technological resources, marketing and the support of a sales team capable of monetizing the content. We believe that diversifying formats will help us to reach new audiences and give our existing readership base more of the valuable insight they desire.
- Attribution: JWS has been fortunate to break some significant stories. However, at times, the attribution of that news has gotten lost in the shuffle. The affiliation with a legacy media company is expected to help raise the outlet’s profile and its status as a destination for sports business, sports finance and sports media news.
- Monetization: We take great pride in the fact that some of the most influential people in sports enjoy our work and have reached out to help us give readers a look behind the curtain. However, our bootstrapped approach to date has prevented us from introducing additional products and services for sports’ decision makers. Expect JWS to expand its offerings now that we have the support needed to execute on our business plan.
It’s important to note that the move to Sports Illustrated will not impact JWS’ core product (our free email newsletter), so there’s nothing that needs to be done on your part except continuing to share our work on your social media feeds (urging colleagues to sign-up doesn’t hurt either). We will continue to maintain control over all editorial decisions and publish – both on our revamped website and directly to your inbox – weekday mornings at 6a.
Thanks again for your support in our growth to date. It’s because of you that we can do what we love and for that we are forever grateful. We promise to continue putting out content that you look forward to reading each morning.
Before we sign-off, there are a few people who we must share our appreciation for; without them, there is no JohnWallStreet.
Sari Leff – The wife of founder Corey Leff. She put her own dreams on hold for two years, so that Leff could chase his. She’s remained supportive despite JWS putting a financial strain on the family. JWS does not exist without her.
Joe Favorito – Outside of immediate family, no one has been more influential in JWS’ success than Joe. He championed the outlet from its inception and has been there to help guide the way ever since.
Brandon Wenerd (BroBible) and Eric Drobny (formerly B/R, now Stanza) – These two guys agreed to syndicate JWS content on their respective platforms when we were just getting started. Associations with BroBible and B/R not only gave us an audience (critical for motivation in the early days), but the credibility needed to gain access to the industry’s decision makers.
Jared Verteramo – He’s the reason we’re making the move to S.I. It was his vision to have JWS serve as the ‘bridge’ between Sports Illustrated and The Street audiences and it was his aggressive pursuit of a deal that ultimately got it done.
There are several others that are owed a heartfelt thank you, but because we regularly rely on them for insight we won’t give up their cover. You know who you are and you are appreciated.
–Howie Long-Short & Fan Marino
