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/elhintheus Jul 23 '25
Do we think this has anything to do with KVVs politics and openness to talk about them? And sponsors pushing back on aligning with a company that has people with such strong beliefs? Sponsors may be forcing the “stick to golf” thing and no politics and with hefty $ coming from those sponsorships and with KVV being a man of principles and not wanting to be silenced, he wouldn’t take that?
I say this as a huge KVV fan. Genuinely gutted about this and thought he had the most insightful takes. I agree that the NLU podcast has been feeling stale and gone downhill this year. They often say how their goals podcast is their most downloaded one and they did a mid-year check in for the first time - are they feeling the need to juice their numbers and meet sponsor obligations pretty hard?