As news broke on Monday that Teamworks was officially acquiring the data arm of Pro Football Focus, the bespoke analytics firm owned by NBC Sports’ lead NFL analyst Cris Collinsworth, it became clear that many employees staffed on the company’s media side were not being retained.
Collinsworth sold PFF’s enterprise data set and associated businesses, with staffers working in that part of the company making the transition to Teamworks. The NBC analyst retained PFF’s “consumer business,” which includes the media side of the company that produces analytics-driven content for different mediums.
On Monday, numerous people from PFF’s content team announced they had been let go via social media. Affected staffers include Trevor Sikkema, host of the NFL Stock Exchange podcast, Mike Kennedy, who led PFF’s social accounts, Beckett Mesko, a social media producer, John Owning, an editor, Seth Reese, a graphic designer, Max Chadwick, a college football analyst, Thomas Valentine, a fantasy football writer, and Jon Macri, a fantasy football analyst.
It is unclear what this all means for the long-term prospects of PFF’s content arm. The company’s player rankings, which have been prominently featured on NBC’s Sunday Night Football telecasts for years, propelled the brand into the mainstream. But without the proprietary data to base content around, and a much smaller staff, that part of the company could begin to look a lot different.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.