Fat Farrell is leaving the sinking ship that is Rivals

[Johannes de Silentio]

I don't believe Dean owns the subscribers, those subscriptions are owned by Rivals. So if he were to transfer over to On3, he'd have to build the subscriber base back up.

If Callahan, Washut, and the whole HOL team left for On3 and Rivals brought in generic jackass to run it, I'd cancel and go to On3. I'm barely hanging on at Rivals right now. I'm not sticking for whatever dregs Rivals could get to sign on to continue the charade. I suspect a lot of people would do likewise.

 

[Johannes de Silentio]

You think he'd bring over his staff or try to bring in some more talent? I just can't imagine the Nebraska product being anything more than Rivals with a fresh coat of paint.

On3 would have to offer a really unique value proposition for me to sign-up with Deab and Co. again.

If he could find somebody to take over for Mongo, I think the staff actually wouldn't be too bad. Maybe On3 would insist. Who knows?

 

[HCFord1]

Some great points here. Let me try to respond to a few.

1) I think different people balance community, recruiting information, and team information in different ways. You're right that the Fong CBs would often make their way over to RSS pretty quickly. However, I still very much remember how much information was coming out prior to December NSD for the 2020 class that just wasn't on RSS at all. There was basically open revolt that Callahan and Clouse were barely even around as Minnesota and Wisconsin sites on 247 were breaking the details on Kaden Johnson over on Husker247. That kind of shit was and is enough for many fans to either carry dual subscriptions of just switch to Husker247. Their board sucks by our standards, but some folks seem to like and/or don't mind much. Until today, I was one of those people who had two subscriptions for this very reason.

2) Sites can also have different levels of contacts within a program. For instance, for a long time, it seemed pretty clear that Schaefer had an in with Mossbrucker and Dillon in a way that Clouse (RIP) may not have. So while Schaefer still had to make sure to stay in the good graces of those guys with what he shared, he definitely had substantively different assessments of where things stood than RSS. You can differentiate on that I think.

3) I agree that there won't be three recruiting services. I think your last sentence is pretty much what will happen. Rivals is leaking talent (if you can call some of these guys that) like a sieve. Who is replacing them? Their national network is a joke. 247 has been growing at their expense for years. I could easily see them folding up and into one of the two remaining players just like Scout did. On3 would make the most sense there.

Regarding #3, it'd be interesting to know what kind of contractual protection Dean has if Rivals is acquired. I'm not a lawyer, but I believe someone on here might be *cough, cough*

 

[Johannes de Silentio]

He's better off hanging out until someone buys rivals.

That would be the perfect situation. Have all the subs just migrate over automatically, and then he could really try to grow again with a non-shitty network.

What would be hilarious, though, would be if some other Nebraska hack slid in underneath him for the On3 site and he started bleeding out with Rivals.

 

[Johannes de Silentio]

Regarding #3, it'd interesting to know what kind of contractual protection Dean has if Rivals is acquired. I'm not a lawyer, but I believe someone on here might be *cough, cough*

I don't know enough about publishing contracts to have an informed opinion on what is standard for these sorts of things. From what Callahan has publicly stated about his arrangement with Rivals over the years, I wouldn't be surprised if the two matters are conceptually distinct, i.e., the site and its subscriptions could be sold without also transferring Callahan's publication rights. However, one would have to think that On3 would view having both as essential parts of its valuation. The tricky thing would then be scaling that up to a huge network of sites, some of which wouldn't come due to On3 already having fansites that are operational.

 

[HCFord1]

I don't know enough about publishing contracts to have an informed opinion on what is standard for these sorts of things. From what Callahan has publicly stated about his arrangement with Rivals over the years, I wouldn't be surprised if the two matters are conceptually distinct, i.e., the site and its subscriptions could be sold without also transferring Callahan's publication rights. However, one would have to think that On3 would view having both as essential parts of its valuation. The tricky thing would then be scaling that up to a huge network of sites, some of which wouldn't come due to On3 already having fansites that are operational.

For sure. That's another reason why it would make sense for on3 to raise capital and try to acquire Rivals as soon as on3 can show some momentum and put a further dent in the Rivals valuation. They just aren't gonna get very far without that membership and it would be prudent to avoid hiring people to run team sites if you're just going to have to merge them within a year or so.

On that note, I just looked at on3 and they only have dedicated team sites/forums for 19 schools. I checked out the Bama forum and it's significantly less active than tPB is...

 

[CornFed Gregger]

I’m going to be extremely disappointed if On3 just grabs deab for a Husker site. Far more entertaining if it’s Clouse on a revenge tour with another guy.

It’s gonna happen tho, Deab hiring the “way to go” gal may be a good sign of that or volleyball focus is a legit move

 

[Ripping Lips]

I rather see Clouse take down Dean and make him squeal like a little pig...

 

[That SOB Van Owen]

Some dudes came over here at the start and didn't stick around. For instance, haven't seen Butch Cassidy here in forever. He's still a big presence on RSS. I think you nailed it: familiarity and recruiting database. Plus, there is some decent information there every once in a while. When Nebraska actually is making moves, it's great to have as many sources as possible, too.



The built-in subs is more than enough, I'd say. There are guys who cover the team that I really enjoy, e.g., McKewon, but it's not like they bring so much more credibility and analytical insight that it makes up for those built-in subs. And, like it or not, Callahan is always hustling on this gig. He's one of the most recognized guys among the local journalists.

I mean let’s be honest, too. This place isn’t really for everyone. It’s a bit off color here, and not everyone likes that. Also some people probably think the whole thing was a joke to begin with.