What’s next for The Blue Testament?

I have started writing this about 25 times since Friday morning. In case you haven’t seen the news, Vox Media has made the decision to “withdraw coverage in some areas.” Vox Media is cutting roughly seven percent of its workforce with MLS and NHL sites SBNation bearing the brunt.

Blue Testament and the other affected sites will no longer be supported. We understand we have until the end of February, but we’ll still have to see how it plays out. The site may remain active. It is also possible that we all move to another place.

We understand that pod support will be cut, so we are already looking for solutions.

We know that the few people who received stipends will no longer receive money after February. No one at The Blue Testament received substantial compensation. I always referred to my “pay” as gas money, and sometimes it barely covered that. While I wasn’t very confident about the payment, it was a bit of a pain when I got the email. I felt that we were safe because we earned very little.

Thad’s Bell

Difficulty

Back when I was in the corporate world and I had a desk, well, a cubicle, I had a little rock-like object on my desk. I got it from some store in a mall that sold various items with inspirational quotes and images. Think of a cat on a limb with the words “hold on,” but a little fancier.

In the midst of difficulty lies opportunity. – Albert Einstein

The attribution is likely false, it was probably originally John Archibald Wheeler, but that doesn’t really matter now. Whichever scientist originated the quote, it seemed true to me. I believe it and many times I have found a better way when everything seemed to be going wrong.

We can’t tell you what will happen or what it will be like, but I can guarantee that we won’t be leaving. We’ll continue to cover football in Kansas City and maybe, just maybe, we’ll find something better.

Community

The word community is often thrown around somewhat loosely, but The Blue Testament has become a community for soccer fans in Kansas City. We know and care about writers and readers. A couple of my family members have passed away in the past few years, and other than family members, the only people I really told were other Blue Testament contributors.

Seeing the readers of The Blue Testament and getting to know them is amazing. Reading their opinions on the news, the jokes, the gifs (looking at you, Ked), the recipes, and the vast knowledge and life experiences shared cannot be given voluntarily.

When one of our readers was being harassed in the comments recently, the two of us with BAN authority competed with each other to get rid of them. It’s rare for this to happen, but we want our readers to feel safe being here.

The site was constantly growing, adding writers, pods, and teams that we covered. But as we’ve grown, we’ve also focused on increasing quality and community.

This soccer community is too precious, especially for me, to let it disappear.

Going forward

While I can’t speak for everyone on the site, I think most of us will continue here until a better solution is found. We care to cover Sporting Kansas City, Kansas City Current, Kansas City Comets, SKC II and all things Kansas City football. We have a World Cup coming up here.

We want to cover those teams; we want to be an alternative voice with opinions different from the accounts of the team or the Star.

And we will.

If the worst happens and we lose this before we have a new plan, rest assured we’ll have a new plan, even if we have to start from scratch.

One of my favorite quotes from a Marvel movie.

Ultron: They’re doomed!

Vision : Yes… but a thing is not beautiful because it lasts. It is a privilege to be among them.

It has been a privilege for me to work with the writers and readers of this site.

Keep an eye on this space and on our personal Twitter and other social media accounts.

Thad’s Bell