Extra Points now has new ownership. Here's what that means:

Good morning, and thanks for your continued support of Extra Points.

Back in December, I announced the partnership between Extra Points and D1.ticker was coming to a close, and that I needed to secure new ownership for the newsletter.

I’ve spent the better part of the last three months talking to a lot of folks about what to do with this publication. Today, I’m thrilled to finally announce the new ownership structure of Extra Points, what that means for this newsletter, and most importantly, my readers.

So who is buying Extra Points?

Effective Feb 1, Extra Points will be owned and operated by a company called THE Media. This entity currently owns and operates the popular THE Podcast, which covers Ohio State football, as well as Kings Of The North, a podcast covering Northern college football.

I think it’ll be okay for me to share that this entity plans to be very aggressive in expansion efforts this year, across multiple mediums and platforms.

Wait, I haven’t heard of those guys. Why did you decide to sign up with a smaller company?

This is a fair question!

I talked with a lot of different companies about Extra Points. Many of them were established media companies working in the business of college sports space, or as general college sports brands. There are a lot of advantages to working with a newspaper or legacy media entity, and I seriously considered a few of those opportunities. I also talked to other smaller publishers, some private investors, and even a few opportunities completely outside sportswriting.

At the end of the day, I had three major goals during the sales process. I wanted to work with a partner who would help with the resources and infrastructure to do my best possible work. I wanted to work with folks that I knew and respected. And I wanted to go somewhere that was still trying to build something, to be ambitious, creative, and try new things.

After better understanding the ambitions of what my new partners are trying to achieve, how they want to go about doing it, and how they see Extra Points fitting into that vision, I felt like this was the best option for me, Extra Points, and my readers.

So is Extra Points going to pivot to being an Ohio State football publication or something? Is the content of EP going to change?

Nope! I am going to continue writing about the same topics: the off-the-field stories that shape the college sports industry. That will include coverage of college football, of course, but I’m still going to write about D-II and D-III schools, conference realignment, the NIL industry, education policy, college sports video games, the TV business, and all sorts of other sub-beats that I’ve traditionally covered. None of that is going to change.

You might see me on Kings Of The North every once in a while, or I might appear on future THE Media properties, but I’m not changing the editorial focus of Extra Points.

What about Athletic Director Simulator 4000?

Along with writing the newsletter and trying to figure out who is going to buy Extra Points, I’ve also spent the last few months working on a massive update to Athletic Director Simulator 3000 called…Athletic Director Simulator 4000. The new version has graphics, new questions, institutional profiles, and many new features.

The IP for the ADS games is owned by D1.ticker and will continue to be owned by D1.ticker. However, we have agreed to a licensure agreement that will allow Extra Points paid subscribers to continue to access the ADS games. When ADS4000 is released (which should hopefully be very soon), I will share that information with subscribers.

Building the ADS games has made me realize that while I love writing and reporting, I also really like making computer games. I plan on continuing to make games under our new ownership and will share information on those projects in the future.

What about D1.classroom?

The D1.classroom curriculum package will remain with D1.ticker, but will not include Extra Points premium membership. I’d encourage college instructors interested in affordable Sports Management Curriculum support to continue to use D1.classroom, but if any classes want a bulk premium Extra Points subscription, I am happy to honor the D1.classroom price. Please email me to discuss.

What about the FOIA Directory?

The hosting costs of the current FOIA Directory are currently paid by D1.ticker, and as such, I’ll take down the link to the FOIA Directory on 2/1. I loved offering the FOIA Directory, and obviously will continue to heavily use Open Records in our reporting, but we’ll need some time to figure out the best new hosting solution, what documents we want to include, and how we’ll share them.

What changes can we expect with Extra Points under new ownership?

The single most important thing is about what isn’t changing. I’m still writing Extra Points. We’re still looking to do original reporting, unique analysis, and occasionally silly posts.

Over the next few months, we’re going to reevaluate components of the newsletter, website, and business to make sure what we’re doing is sustainable and in the best interest of you, the reader. That might mean a brand refresh, website update or changes to our technical stack, for example.

This is always going to be a subscription-centered publication, and it is truly important to me that if I am going to ask you for money, I need to deliver something of value. I recognize that some features we offer will change after this sale, which means that I will also be looking at new functionality we can offer to subscribers.

I’m interested in hearing what new features interest you, so feel free to send feedback and ideas.

Are you hiring?

Great question. Yes!

While I am always happy to pay for freelance stories, there’s another role I have an immediate need for.

I’m looking to pay an individual or outside company to help with outbound ad sales. We have target lists and plenty of ideas, but I do not have the time to pound the pavement and write a newsletter and do everything else I do. Send me your resume, especially if you have media sales experience. While I might consider working with an agency or person who doesn’t specifically have media sales experience, I can’t see myself working with somebody who doesn’t have sales experience.

Tl;DR, I’m thrilled to announce Extra Points has a management partner that can provide the resources and team necessary to help this publication become all it can be.

This is an ambitious company with big plans, and I’ll share more of those with you at the right time. For now, I just want to thank you for your patience, your support, and your friendship.

Now that this is all behind me, I can’t wait to throw all of my energy and focus into doing what I truly love…making the best Extra Points I possibly can for all of you, whatever that means.

As always, you can reach me at [email protected], or @MattBrownEP on Twitter.

I’ll see you in your inbox with more reporting later this week.