Stumptown Footy will no longer be supported by Vox Media, but we’re still moving forward

Hello everyone! Site administrator Sam here.

In case you weren’t on the internet yesterday, it was… a day.

At 8:14 a.m. on Friday (the better time to break big news) I received an email explaining that Vox Media, the media company that owns and runs SB Nation, will no longer support or monetize Stumptown Footy.

This is related to the larger layoffs Vox made and affects most, if not all, of the MLS SB Nation blogging sites. The email pointed to “a downturn in advertising” and “the economic climate” as the reasons Vox had for making these “difficult and careful decisions.”

As difficult as this decision has been and as much care has been put into making the final decision, the reality is that Vox, by taking the step to remove SB Nation’s MLS blogs, is cutting ties with an integral part of the American soccer community. And by cutting Stumptown, you’re cutting an iconic soccer institution in Portland. One that has been an ever-present piece of the media landscape for over a decade.

And that is incredibly sad. Vox, through SB Nation, has created perhaps the largest and most prominent fan community in the United States, spanning all sports and fandoms. For me personally, the Stumptown Footy comments section was the first time I was involved in the Portland soccer community. That community-fostering sites like this “no longer support” Vox is certainly a blow to fans and the growth of the game.

What does “no longer supported” mean? At this point, I’m not exactly sure. That same email explained that the sites may not “necessarily” be shut down and expressed hope that “many of the affected sites and their brands will continue to operate and thrive.” So there’s still a lot to discover in the days and weeks ahead about what’s to come next.

What I am sure of is that our independent contractor agreement ends at the end of February. And there’s still a lot to write about between now and then.

The Timbers have their first preseason game today (non-broadcast, of course). Defending champion Thorns opens training camp at the end of the month. There are new players to write about, new managers to analyze, new stories and narratives to tell.

So for now, Stumptown Footy will continue to do what we’ve always done: write about the game and the teams we love, and create space for all of you to share that love with us.

That shared love has certainly been overwhelming. The outpouring of support, appreciation and love on social media yesterday meant more to me and the team than we can express. While we all ran the gamut of emotions fearing this beloved site would go offline, it was the support we felt from Portland and the global soccer community that kept us afloat.

Thank you all for supporting us. For reading, for commenting, for tweeting, for being, well, you. The beauty of Stumptown Footy is that it’s not just the publications or the writers, it’s the entire beloved PTFC soccer community. I can’t say it enough, but I’ll say it again: thank you.

The Stumptown team is still thinking about our next move. The collaborators we have on board are too talented and too passionate to pack up and let this be the end of it. Everyone here will land on their feet, and we’ll be sure to update you all once we find out what the next move is.

If you’re active on Twitter and there was ever something we said, wrote, or tweeted that made you laugh, smile, or nod, I humbly ask you to follow our great team below to keep up with whatever ( either Ahem “wherever [sic]”) do below:

We haven’t said goodbye yet. We may inevitably have to. But my hope is that if we do, it won’t be so much “bye” as “see you soon.”

But until that happens, we here at Stumptown Footy will continue in the only direction we know: forward.