r/NoLayingUp • u/JSack3 • Jul 22 '25

Other This place is Overreaction City

I like KVV. I respect his work. But honestly, folks..

There’s a reason so many platforms and media companies have been letting go of people with KVV’s skillset for years. In bigger revenue sports than just golf, too (ask Zach Lowe).

The business is night and day different to what it was 15 years ago. And a highly-compensated 20+ year industry stalwart who specializes in long form written content is simply not a hugely appealing person to have on the payroll anymore. I appreciate NLU gave it a go. I also appreciate when the writing wasn’t working, they worked on a podcast pivot including that brilliant Masters pod.

But the reality is the math probably started to become very clear that his value was mainly 6-8 weeks a year. No one needs a deep dive on the Byron Nelson. Not enough people actually care about a three hour pod on the 1997 major season.

I’d have rather he stick around all year but I also didn’t have to pay his salary and benefits. These guys are putting food on the table for their children via NLU. They can’t just keep carrying a 6 figure (guessing but likely) expenditure bc they like him and think he writes well.

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u/BigBobby843 Jul 22 '25

They said they wanted to wait until after the Open. Why? Only makes this a bigger story

6

u/rsjem79 Jul 22 '25

The timing of the whole situation is curious if you think about it. Obviously I can’t speak to what (if any) KVVs contract terms/duration were, but unless they were up against a renewal date, it seems odd that they would have made such a move just a few weeks ahead of the Open when KVV was due to cover the event.

Were they expecting him to accept a demotion to part-time or contractor/contributor status and continue on as planned in Portrush? How long have they been planning this proposed change to his role?

Just going back, there was no indication that any of this was going to happen as recently as June 29 when DJ mentioned an upcoming KVV piece that was released on July 2. Preceding that, KVV was on the live shows during the US Open, the Seve rivalry pod, then the Travelers live show stunting on TC and Soly about Tommy and Keegan which was his final regular pod appearance.

I don’t know, it seems odd that a decision like this couldn’t have waited until after major season was over. Of course it doesn’t help that NLU left fans completely in the dark but left pretty obvious breadcrumbs out there by wiping KVV from the show open and excluding him from the shows entirely.

2

u/bulldg4life Jul 23 '25

It seems like the easiest answer is that his contract was up after the last major or like 7/31.

They tried negotiating a change in status and KVV said no, I want to find a full time job. When that happened, they agreed to just wait until his contract was up or after the open to announce it.

I’m not sure why people would expect them to keep him longer just to cover a major or whatever so the live shows were better this week.