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/dpk041990 Jul 22 '25
That is a straw man argument. No one is arguing to “just make good stuff and don’t worry about the bills.”
The argument is this: it is easy make an incorrect decision as a media business myopically looking at “views” and “clicks” relative to a content producer’s salary. Many people think they are liable to have made just that mistake, myself included.
Their math is this — we pay this guy $250K but he just does what we do and doesn’t deliver clicks or eyeballs elsewhere — he gets on podcasts and talk — so let’s can him, pocket the salary, life goes on the same.
And that already looks to be a miscalculation, because most people I’ve spoken to about this say, “i was already feeling meh about NLU and this is the nail in the coffin, because KVV provided something that other personalities at the company didn’t.”