SB Nation is ending support of all MLS websites on the network.
As you have probably heard by now, SB Nation and their parent company Vox Media announced a number of layoffs today. Included in that were the brands’ NHL and MLS sites. We received the email that Dynamo Theory was a part of that and we would no longer be supported or monetized. We join all of our fellow contributors across the brand in voicing our disappointment and frustration.
We have done what we feel are some important and valuable work here at Dynamo Theory covering the Houston Dynamo and Houston Dash, as well as Dynamo 2. We were really beginning to gain traction and had been showing some big gains in visitors to the site and listeners to our website. The media that covers soccer in Houston, and in many cities, is already a small group and the decision made by corporate leaders today is extremely unfortunate.
With that being said, what we have built here at Dynamo Theory in the past two years is not going anywhere. Our coverage and bringing you unprecedented access to soccer in Houston is not going anywhere. We have built a team of contributors that are passionate about soccer here and telling its’ story. Our coverage will no longer be under the umbrella of Vox Media and SB Nation, but we will continue.
We are actively working on our new project and hope to have it up and running next week. Houston is a soccer city and Houston deserves first class soccer coverage. If SB Nation and Vox don’t want to give you that, we’ll just do it ourselves. Covering the teams we do was never about the small check they gave us each month and access to some photos. We won’t have the support of a multi-million dollar company but in ways, we kind of wanted that for some time. Now we’ll be able to monetize our own way, through local sponsors who we care about and who care about soccer in our city. I built Total MLS, with some amazing help, to one of the most respected MLS outfits with over 40 thousand followers on social media, I’m not afraid of the challenge.
Stay tuned this weekend for our next steps, our contract runs with SB Nation until the end of February so we will be able to update you on all of the Dynamo Theory socials and our website until then. In the meantime, I just want to say thank you. Thank you for making Dynamo Theory what it has been. Thank you to our staff for sharing your passion and story telling. Thank you to the readers and listeners. Thank you to everyone at the Dynamo, Dash, and Dynamo 2 who have always been accommodating and helpful in anything we needed to help tell the stories of the club and its characters.
This is not goodbye, instead, see you soon.
– Dustyn