Covering the Commanders: Keim and Company Discussion

[Voice_of_Reason]

He should really stick to analyzing beans. He's probably more qualified to do that.

As bad as Russell is, Lynell Willingham is worse.

I’ve never had the pleasure of listening to Lynell and have no idea who he is except what I’ve been told.

We have several good media members in this market.

We have a whole lot of schlock.

Unfortunately, probably the two best pure reporters, Standig and Keim, combined es have the personality of a wet paper towel. Both really are writers that the industry has turned into front of camera folks because you can’t be just a writer anymore. It’s like whatever the equivalent of “face for radio” is for writers.

I personally don’t think there are a lot of good hosts or shows at all on radio. The junkies are an institution, but really have no idea why.

Sheehan appeals to the older GenX scream at the sky crowd but not so much anybody else. He’s in 980 purgatory. If he had numbers they’d put him in a premium spot on 106.7. I believe both are still owned by the same company.

BMitch and Finley, Grant and Danny, all the rest of the stuff is just uneducated carnival barking.

 

[Riggo44]

I listen to the Junkies because they're familiar. I will then switch to podcasts after I drop the kids off at school. I have a soft spot for B-Mitch, and he is veering into Doc Walker Cliche-ville. But I absolutely love when he makes fun of callers. There is no dumber form of life than a sports radio caller.

I absolutely despise how much our radio shows kowtow to out of town guests and fans. Everybody does it better. On the Junkies, only EB is a true DC fan. They have those idiotic CBS Sports Minutes where you have that moron Boomer Esiason slurping the Mets and Rangers on DC radio. John Feinstein come on as an Islanders, Mets, and Giants fan--and routinely bash the local teams. Fuck all the way off...but rest in peace.

 

[Riggo44]

However you feel about Biadsz, this is a mind numbing awful take. I loathe most of DC media

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

However you feel about Biadsz, this is a mind numbing awful take. I loathe most of DC media

Squeaky is just a self absorbed, has a shrine to himself, click bating fuckwitt

He is just a rabble rousing pain in the ass. I don’t know if Sheehan still has him on his podcast but I blame squeaky for a lot of Sheehan’s downfall. He picked up a lot of bad habits and views from squeaky.

 

[Boone]

Yeah, he is pretty insufferable. He’s like Chris Russell - he likes to stake out a position that no one else has and snarkily defend it the death. Unlike Russell, with Loverro’s is always the most negative possible take humanly possible. Even during the Snyder era that wasn’t always fair, but now it just feels like it is a personal agenda. Listening to him is pretty much up there with a bad dentist visit.

 

[Chris]

 

[Riggo44]

Squeaky is just a self absorbed, has a shrine to himself, click bating fuckwitt

 

[skinsinparadise]

Probably of interest to Voice_of_Reason if I recall he wasn't that big of a fan of Collinsworth. Listening to some of the narratives, feels like the thought is Collinsworth sold PFF down the river to make a buck and basically destroyed it in the process.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Probably of interest to Voice_of_Reason if I recall he wasn't that big of a fan of Collinsworth. Listening to some of the narratives, feels like the thought is Collinsworth sold PFF down the river to make a buck and basically destroyed it in the process.

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I have called Collinsworth “dear leader” and I think he’s a bad commentator and a snake oil salesman.

I’m not entirely sure what’s happening at PFF. While I vowed I wouldn’t attack them and actually find some of their stuff useful I don’t follow any of them and don’t really pay attention to them.

So, what happened? It sounds like there were some layoffs. Anything more wholistic?

 

[skinsinparadise]

I have called Collinsworth “dear leader” and I think he’s a bad commentator and a snake oil salesman.

I’m not entirely sure what’s happening at PFF. While I vowed I wouldn’t attack them and actually find some of their stuff useful I don’t follow any of them and don’t really pay attention to them.

So, what happened? It sounds like there were some layoffs. Anything more wholistic?

He sold it to Teamworks for 100 million, Teamworks from what I've gathered likes to buy other businesses and sometimes strip them to the bone to make more money. So upon the sale, they basically fired almost every employee at PFF and decided to end the consumer business, access to grades, and will just work directly with NFL teams.

I am listening to some of the ex-PFF guys and they don't seem fans of Collinsworth, who put his sons in the business in recent years, and at least according to some PFF guys had no idea what they were doing and the business in their minds continued to decline -- and he ultimately sold the company, made a ton of money, and most of everyone who worked their is now gone.

Feels similar ironically to Football Outsiders, it was bought years ago and basically the buyer dismantled it.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

He sold it to Teamworks for 100 million, Teamworks from what I've gathered likes to buy other businesses and sometimes strip them to the bone to make more money. So upon the sale, they basically fired almost every employee at PFF and decided to end the consumer business, access to grades, and will just work directly with NFL teams.

I am listening to some of the ex-PFF guys and they don't seem fans of Collinsworth, who put his sons in the business in recent years, and at least according to some PFF guys had no idea what they were doing and the business in their minds continued to decline -- and he ultimately sold the company, made a ton of money, and most of everyone who worked their is now gone.

Feels similar ironically to Football Outsiders, it was bought years ago and basically the buyer dismantled it.

Seems like an odd choice to buy a business for $100m and then change its operating model. But, eh, what do I know? (Actually quite a bit on this subject but it’s irrelevant.)

Collinsworth was an ok receiver. 6,600 yards in 8 season. Not great. Not terrible.

He was actually prettty good early as a coach-host on inside the NFL in the 90’s.

However, as he got more exposure because he could string 2 sentences together, he started to become worse and worse and worse.

He made a pretty brilliant move buying PFF.

However you could feel his dumbass fingerprints on parts of it for years. I didn’t know his kids were inserted. But I do know that he likes to drum up conversation and publicity and so I could feel he was doing something to influence that in the takes of the folks I heard from as guests in Galdi and other podcasts.

I am sorry for the folks who lost their jobs. Though in fairness that’s not so much on Collinsworth. Once he sold the business he relinquishes that responsibility.

I just think he’s a bad color commentator. He seems like he made a heck of a return on his investment though.

 

[Riggo44]

Guys, guys, GUYS!!! JAYDEN AND BRANDON AIYUK ARE STILL CLOSE!! Breaking insight from Rooser that...literally everyone knows.

 

[method man]

He sold it to Teamworks for 100 million, Teamworks from what I've gathered likes to buy other businesses and sometimes strip them to the bone to make more money. So upon the sale, they basically fired almost every employee at PFF and decided to end the consumer business, access to grades, and will just work directly with NFL teams.

I am listening to some of the ex-PFF guys and they don't seem fans of Collinsworth, who put his sons in the business in recent years, and at least according to some PFF guys had no idea what they were doing and the business in their minds continued to decline -- and he ultimately sold the company, made a ton of money, and most of everyone who worked their is now gone.

Feels similar ironically to Football Outsiders, it was bought years ago and basically the buyer dismantled it.

Teamworks raised a monster round of capital last year. At this point, they must be one of NC’s largest private software companies and likely the largest pure play sports private B2B software company in the world.

A B2B company doesn’t care about the consumer business as it is incongruent with their business model and is more a nuisance to them.

The test of capitalism is showing the consumer business had little value. At the end of the day, consumers did not want to go pay for the paid subscriptions.

 

[method man]

Regarding the PFF personalities, the one guy I really like is Sikkema. He seems like a genuinely awesome A+ type of person. I also love his analysis always starts with the tape and then is supplemented by PFF grades and metrics.

Good for him to untangle the Stock Exchange pod from PFF. I think he and Connor own it outright. His wife is an ESPN college reporter. I'm sure he is going to land somewhere great

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Teamworks raised a monster round of capital last year. At this point, they must be one of NC’s largest private software companies and likely the largest pure play sports private B2B software company in the world.

A B2B company doesn’t care about the consumer business as it is incongruent with their business model and is more a nuisance to them.

The test of capitalism is showing the consumer business had little value. At the end of the day, consumers did not want to go pay for the paid subscriptions.

You’re right and what we don’t know is the revenue split between the commercial and B2B part of PFF, or the profit margin.

It’s possible the commercial component of the company was not as profitable or not profitable at all, given the number of personalities they had to pay.

That’s something which we will never know.

It’s just an interesting investment thesis. They’re clearly banking the NFL and College are going to drive additional revenue growth without needing rhe commercial part of rhe business.

Which makes it somewhat of an odd fit.

I don’t know the exact number, but there are a lot of deals where a company makes an investment thesis and it never actually plays out and the deal either turns into an albatross or is nowhere near as profitable as hoped.

I worked for a company a long time ago, they did one of those deals. Also throw in bad timing with the 2008/2009 financial industry meltdown, and they couldn’t refinance the debt and went bankrupt.

So just because there is a deal thesis to offload the commercial practice and double down on the b2b, that doesn’t make it right or even the acquisition make sense in the long term.

 

[Conn]

I mean, it’s also highly possible that they’re going to do what VC money often does and break off the parts of PFF that are immediately profitable, hollow out the parts that aren’t, load up the dying husk with the debt accrued, and abandon it to die filing Chapter 11. Then inevitably someone in the space will buy the restructured company for the name, swear they’re bringing back “the old PFF we all loved”, and spin it off into a similar venture. And the cycle continues until THEY sell out and it happens again. Etc. We’ve seen it play out enough times.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I mean, it’s also highly possible that they’re going to do what VC money often does and break off the parts of PFF that are immediately profitable, hollow out the parts that aren’t, load up the dying husk with the debt accrued, and abandon it to die filing Chapter 11. Then inevitably someone in the space will buy the restructured company for the name, swear they’re bringing back “the old PFF we all loved”, and spin it off into a similar venture. And the cycle continues until THEY sell out and it happens again. Etc. We’ve seen it play out enough times.

Anything is possible.

There is clearly a plan.

We’ll find out in 2-3 years if the plan worked out for them.

It might not work out the way the current commercial customers want it to, but it might work.

It also might not.

 

[Conn]

Anything is possible.

There is clearly a plan.

We’ll find out in 2-3 years if the plan worked out for them.

It might not work out the way the current commercial customers want it to, but it might work.

It also might not.

Few of these acquisitions are ever really about making the business work, again as we’ve seen over and over again. They’re about extracting maximum value upwards over a period of time and then moving on to the next venture. Anyone still at PFF would be smart to polish up those resumes and look for a similar venture that hasn’t sold out to VC, and hope that that too is not eventually acquired

 

[Riggo44]

Not covering the Commanders directly, but this story exploded over the last couple of days

 

[RedWolf]

Not covering the Commanders directly, but this story exploded over the last couple of days

I don't find her attractive at all 🤮