Fixing ESPN’s The Undefeated: A Timid Investment

ESPN’s The Undefeated will get some push back but they must keep pushing.

When The Undefeated was announced by Jason Whitlock awhile back, I was really excited about a Black Grantland style site. I was looking forward to something I complained about with Grantland. Felt kinda uppity and not enough black stuff. After that DeadSpin leak on Whitlock, I was fearful that this wasn’t going to be fun. I wasn’t on the radar but I saw an opportunity that maybe if I found a lane I could someday be involved. I have a similar idea to target black people but my idea needs to be funded. I have a vested interest in The Undefeated’s success because it can be looked at business model that could work. I know it’s early but I see big companies fail all the time with these pushes to black and minority groups. Out the gate mistakes ain’t helping.

1. Website or Magazine?

There are some very critical issues that The Undefeated is going to need to address so they can avoid failure. Let’s start with my first impressions. As of now there are two things going on the site. There is a half ass curation of black ESPN stuff .(Podcast missing: Jalen and Jacoby, Cari Champion, Reese Waters?) The other is a magazine. Where do you go to read interesting stuff with nice pictures? A magazine. Right now that all it is. They do a have an original podcast but they feel like it’s being produced by someone who is new to producing such a free-form type content for mass consumption. I know who the target is for the site and the cherry on top is cultivated by the section on HBCU topics. This site is for business professionals mostly those who graduated college and probably read a lot more than you average. It feels very Washington Post / The Atlantic like in its feel and that doesn’t excite

“It’s like they don’t want me to keep up with what they’re doing.”

My Fix

Give it some cool. That cool factor might be the hardest thing for a Disney owned property to get but it’s a must have. To bring in a more general side, somebody need to be out here giving out some game. Nothing we like more the being put up on game. It doesn’t actually feel like a website that’s taking full advantage of the internet’s capabilities. I expect some original video besides the Spike joints and some podcast of different variety. I would know this because when it comes to websites like Russell Westbrook “I do this.”

2. Audience Participation?

Another major hole that is stunning the growth of the undefeated is audience engagement. It’s like they don’t want you involved. No Comments? I can see the downside but I think at least having one section where you can take some feedback would be helpful. Social media? They are not that interest in showing you what’s on there. Only place to follow is at the very bottom.

It seems that the measures of success of the website is based on one of two things. They are looking purely clicks, follows, and likes or they want to see how much influence they hold for the other blogs and news outlets available.

My Fix

Start prioritizing the audience gathering and participation. The biggest mistake I saw was no email sign-up. If you are in the content business on the internet you must have an email sign up. I might not come back to this site but if I get the email I might read it. Second thing is the social media feeds are not present and you can’t get a preview of the conversation. It’s like they don’t want me to keep up with what they’re doing. ESPN is basically betting that you get enough ESPN content that you’ll just hear about it through one channel or another.

3. A Louder Presence

The last issue is two prong and it’s all about influence. They have the most prominent black talent at ESPN featured but not participating. All the Bomani Jones, Michael Smith, and Jemele Hill content is available in a bunch of places already. The second part is not going hard enough on culture. The culture side of things seen to be made more like columns for a paper. RecentlyMaya A. Jones did a Q & A with comedian Mike Epps. It’s got some cool bits in it but for the launching of the site, it would have made more sense to get more in depth. Maybe a video/podcast/photo shoot to go along with it. Doesn’t he have a new show on ABC? Hmmm…?

My fix

Go a little bit more in depth with the culture. I need to see more influencer leverage. It still feels more sports than anything. Let get a little bit of money in the culture side and see if we can make some more impact in these streets. I do appear to be right in my suspicion that it would not be fun. It all reading and things I’ve seen on my Twitter feed.