Pro Football Talk becomes part of NBC Sports

[jmt57]

ProFootballTalk.com joins NBCSports.com

Looks like Florio has grown his website to a point where he could no longer continue the business as is, and has entered in to a business deal to move the content to NBC Sports.

As much as I dislike the way Florio has tended to take the low road the last couple of years - favoring gossip over insight and analysis, and writing columns for the sake of stirring emotions to create web traffic - I respect the job he has done in successfully creating a site for football fans. Considering the deep resources of the television network and magazine web sites, I applaud him for coming up with a concept that drew football fans away from those sites and over to his instead.

PFT had grown to a point where it couldn't keep up with the necessary infrastructure, while NBC has been a forgotten player for sports information on the internet. The deal makes sense for both sides.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

While I dislike Florio's attitude and attention-getting style sometimes (like linking the Brady writhing in pain video over and over again in Patriots-related stories and joking about it), when he has real news to report he always provides links, names the names, and seems to provide way more verifiable information than, for example, the talking heads at ESPN. He also won't run with a story on a single shady source. He can be free with his opinions and express them before all the facts are in, but I bookmark his site and go there often (third only to Reiss and to this site).

He gives better info faster and more accurately than ESPN, Fox, or NFL Network in my opinion. He can screw up, but he has even fessed up to screw-ups before, something the guys from Bristol will NEVER do.

 

[farn]

I love Florio. PFT is a good site. People need to realize he advertises his site as a rumormill... yes, I know, some will say it's a lame way of just saying anything.

Sports is entertainment - PFT is entertaining.

 

[BadMoFo]

He scooped everyone on the Donte story, and I know he's done it a few other times on other stories. The guys hits some, and misses some. He's about rumors, and he at least has a decent track record. Much better than NFL Draft Bible.

 

[DarrylS]

He has done a fairly good job, although he seemed obsessed with the Pats for a while.. without regard looks like he got a nice raise and more face time.

 

[mcsully]

First site I visit everyday.. The format he lays out for the reader is great.. I can quickly scan over what articles are interesting and drill down to the story if I wish..

Sometimes his comments are over the top but you have to know he's not serious..

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

The National Enquirer of Sports merges with one of the media stations that likes to fabricate news. Appropriate, although CBS would have been even more fitting.

Good point but the NBC fantasy that I remember was the exploding Pinto footage. That's SO Twentieth Century!

I'm sure Florio made a bundle selling PFT to NBC/GE. GE ain't been the same since Jack Welsh left and the moron took over.

 

[PATRIOTSFANINPA]

I love Florio. PFT is a good site. People need to realize he advertises his site as a rumormill... yes, I know, some will say it's a lame way of just saying anything.

Sports is entertainment - PFT is entertaining.

Florio is far the biggest believer that the Patriots are going to sign Vick and I think he is serious here,I would not put much faith in his articles if he believes garbage like that - Florio obviously has never met or listened to Myra if he is not joking.

 

[blackglass3]

Good point but the NBC fantasy that I remember was the exploding Pinto footage. That's SO Twentieth Century!

I'm sure Florio made a bundle selling PFT to NBC/GE. GE ain't been the same since Jack Welsh left and the moron took over.

NBC will be fine once Jack Donaghy takes over for good.

 

[captain stone]

Deus Irae said it all for me. I now have yet another reason to never, ever pay attention to NBC Sports.

 

[AzPatsFan]

Good point but the NBC fantasy that I remember was the exploding Pinto footage. That's SO Twentieth Century!

I'm sure Florio made a bundle selling PFT to NBC/GE. GE ain't been the same since Jack Welsh left and the moron took over.

Ain't that the Truth.

 

[Deus Irae]

My post seems to have disappeared. Bizarre.....

 

[APatrioticVirginian]

NBC has never added legitimacy to anything.

 

[Patjew]

NBC will be fine once Jack Donaghy takes over for good.

aargh, you beat me to it!

 

[spacecrime]

My post seems to have disappeared. Bizarre.....

I didn't even see this one...

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

I've been an avid reader of PFT for a few years. A lot of the stories have a foundation, and a lot of internal discussions between teams just do not pan out. Sure, there are also quite a few misses, but I believe almost all of the stories are believed to have truth when posted. Compared with other blogs and sites, I find this one to be pretty accurate, and best of all, when my brother or my father calls me all excited about something, I just tell them "Yeah, I already knew that." I've become the family insider =).

Not sure where all the Patriots Paranoia is coming from. Yeah, Florio is not afraid to take a story and run with it, but let's consider that over the last two years, the Patriots have dominated NFL headlines, from Moss to Spygate to 18-1, to Brady's injury. Florio got swept up in Spygate, as did virtually every reporter during it's initial stages. One thing I really respected was that, as information came to light, he made an effort to put things in perspective and did represent both sides of the coin. He pointed out that a lot of teams use espionage and weighed the legitimacy of the Patriots' titles in a fair way. Compared to a lot of other reporters, he was way more sympathetic to the Patriots. I did not find his writing to be sensational on this topic.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=schreiber_leanne&id=3438752

Things like the Matt Walsh story were presented way more factually on PFT than on ESPN.com, and Florio always stated that the Walsh-SB36 thing was an unfounded rumor, that Thomase was the one who needed to explain himself, and that Florio personally did not believe was true, or at least would be proven. His angle on the story was more focused on the sandbagging by the Globe, whereas other agencies focused on the impliciations by assuming the story was true. Also, Florio, unlike even some of the most liberal blogs, pointed out the clear connection between Arlen Spector and Comcast.

In terms of bias, I've heard that Florio is a Steelers fan. He constantly takes shots at Ben Roethlisberger being a prima donna and a "drama queen", labels Santonio Holmes as a "turd", and brought up that Holmes' celebration in the championship last year should have warranted a penalty. I wish a lot of Pats' fans would understand the big picture, which is that every fan base is really sensitive to criticism of their team and takes it personally. If you want to find a sensationalist, biased, horrible team of reporters, check out ESPN... they will run with anything that will get them more viewers, and worse than that, they have personal biases against some teams, Pats included. Their own ombudsman quit, citing compromised professional integrity throughout the organization.

http://awfulannouncing.blogspot.com/2009/03/espn-ombudsman-says-goodbye-we-shed.html

 

[livinginthe past]

As regards Spygate, alot of Patriots fans are probably a little tired of the way Florio would boost the site hits by dropping mention of them when things were a little slow.

You look at the articles that always get the largest number of replies, and generally speaking, they mention the Patriots to some degree.

I still read PFT because they often get the scoop, however I do try and avoid the comments section as it is populated by rabid morons.

 

[WhiskeyBreath]

I hate that ****ing site.

 

[JoeSixPat]

ProFootballTalk.com joins NBCSports.com

Looks like Florio has grown his website to a point where he could no longer continue the business as is, and has entered in to a business deal to move the content to NBC Sports.

As much as I dislike the way Florio has tended to take the low road the last couple of years - favoring gossip over insight and analysis, and writing columns for the sake of stirring emotions to create web traffic - I respect the job he has done in successfully creating a site for football fans. Considering the deep resources of the television network and magazine web sites, I applaud him for coming up with a concept that drew football fans away from those sites and over to his instead.

PFT had grown to a point where it couldn't keep up with the necessary infrastructure, while NBC has been a forgotten player for sports information on the internet. The deal makes sense for both sides.

I don't think he's abdicating the running of the website to NBC by any means.

Florio does get fed legitimate scoops - and also gets used by agents and coaches and gets misinformation.

Those sources aren't just going to start sending their scoops to NBC.

I expect Florio will continue to get the scoops directly but will no longer have to worry about the website infrastructure. NBC gets a chance to profit from the marketing and advertising - Florio just reaps whatever portion was in his sales agreement.

That would be my guess.

Aside from that I've never faulted a site calling itself the Rumormill for reporting rumors rather than confirmed facts or analytical insight.