Milesplit struggles? Yet another flotrack staffer leaves - Who is left?

One of the guys who used to be on the On-The-Line show (and left years ago) posted a kick of the week video.

Now the “on the line show” is gone completely now

milesplit.com

HOKA Kick Of The Week: Tennessee Cross County Run Down | Victor Ashe Park Fall Classic

Bryan Deibel

Check out this week\'s HOKA Kick of The Week from the 2024 Victor Ashe Park Fall Classic in Knoxville, Tennessee. Victor Ashe Park Fall Classic

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even last year not as many HS results were getting uploaded, many big XC and track meets missing. our local coverage is still good because of William Grundy and Alex Chambliss.

Completely agree about your point on the local level. NY MileSplit is producing way less content this XC season.

I do freelance coverage for them. They've been struggling HARD with budgeting issues especially these past few years. It's really bad.

Connecticut milesplit coverage is non-existent. I wish they'd just sell the url to someone willing to actually cover HS running in the state. It's a shame because Connecticut has good cross country running.

Results are on the timers to post. There are states where they are under no obligation to do so.

I am going to sound like a broken record. For the past 15 years I have claimed the founder of Milesplit was not only an uneducated hack when it came to computer programming but he was also a snake oil bully that managed to convince some very gullible people to work for free.

Milesplit was a terrible acquisition by Flotrack. They should have just started from scratch.

So it's not surprising it is struggling now. It was founded on bad principles and poor fundamentals. I am surprised it ever got this far.

I'll tell you what starting to bother me more, though.

99.9% of the millennial generation of runners and close ro 100% of Gen Z-ers have not taken the initiative to do deep dives into the available technology out there.

Chris Chavez is no more than a wordpress hero. And while I am rooting for people like Kyle Merber and Eric Jenkins, they need their Woz (Steve Wozniak).

The ones that ought to also be involved with private experimental projects are the lazy ones who troll and waste their life here. They need to take the grand leap and dive deep into the digital playground their pasttime offers. It doesnt happen over night.

Minnesota Milesplit used to produce lots of content (race videos, interviews, etc) but during and after covid, there’s barely any of them nowadays (except during NXR)

Here is the tweet about Mull's departure:

https://x.com/ByCoryMull/status/1832098873315147829

How many people have left in the last year - Godon Mack, Kevin Selby, Mull? Who else?

What they are doing - while disappointing for fans of the sort - really isn't that much different that what ESPN and other tv/streaming entities have been doing. They realize it's next to impossible to make money from giving away your content for free. They are trying to be a profitable tv/streaming company . Covering the sport in a journalistic sense just costs them cash and the venture capitalists that have put in tens of milllions are now tightening the screws.

Just as ESPN shut down grantland, flo seems to be getting rid of all coverage of the sport except for their actual streams.

This thread is 6 years old. It's taken longer than I anticipated but I hope it comes ture:

https://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=8444610

He was let go (confirmed)... I believe budget issues. He is a good guy.

The platform stinks, but it's what we have. The entire front end needs to be redone. The problem is they don't have any money in the budget for that (I am assuming here).

Having worked for Milesplit some years ago, I can tell you they pay next to nothing and have terrible business sense. With Dyestat a shade of its former self, not sure where you can get consistent HS coverage anymore. I don't even go to Flotrack anymore because I don't want to give them clicks.

My prediction on the timing of market exit was admittedly wrong. I am very very, very surprised they made it through the pandemic though. I scratch my head wondering how it is profitable.

This is not just to nag on everyone. In the beginning, when Ryan and Alex were young, essentially traveling cross country and sleeping in their cars to go to meets and video, that's what got people excited.

"Solinsky is taking off..."

Now, tongue in cheek, "Solinsky is behind an expensive paywall and the announcing aint that passionate..."

Do you need to sleep in your car to be a success? No, but when youre fanatical, dedicated, hungry, perhaps delirious and traveled a long way, you get excited.

Flotrack is not exciting anymore.

I was just having a similar conversation with a friend of mine about the state of the sport/coverage especially at the collegiate level. The 2008-2015 (for sake of convenience and not hard dates necessarily) period had so much great enthusiast content out there that you could enjoy for free. Understandably, companies needed to find revenue streams to fund it all but that has really shutdown the online conversations and fandom. I don't think there is an easy solution because the sport is ultimately so niche that its difficult to make things financially viable beyond a certain subsistent (at best) level. Of course, the Letsrun crew is all too aware of this I am sure.

It looks like they have abandoned the freemium model and have put even basic stats behind the paywall now. I've noticed some meet directors and timing companies switching to Athletic.net this year. Not sure if those two things are related, but I want my team and their families to be able to see historical results for free, so I'm rooting for Athletic to win out and keep providing free stats.

Kevin Sully is the one who left, not Selby. I believe Selby isn't full time with them, although he does a lot of announcing and interviews.

Olivia Ekpone also left recently. Definitely seems like quite the exodus.

I hate FT since they bought the Diamond League Rank A B C and refused to buy Pre Classic since it's Rank D 5,000 seats.

Phil Grove's coverage on pamilesplit penntrackxc is 1st rate as is his announcing of HS and College events!

A.I. journalism has eliminated careers worldwide. Cloud computing, low cost aggregators have eliminate merchandising, ticket offices. Salesforce, intuit have eliminated business offices, accountimg. USATF, NCAA, USOPC, Conefereces, and many DI college Athletic Depts has bery few salaried staffers remaining.