Shedding some light on the AB5 transition

After chatting it up and getting to know you all in my introductory post, it seems like a lot of people are fairly confused about the changes coming from the recent passing of Assembly Bill 5 and what that means for both Niners Nation and the SB Nation California sites.

In this post, I’m going to do my best to shed some light on everything I can and hopefully leave a lot of you guys feeling less frustrated and in the dark during these changes.

Until this past week, neither Kyle nor I even knew exactly what was going to be happening. We both spent the week in Los Angeles getting to know our new co-workers and learning about the new structure and hierarchy that will continue to be tweaked and adjusted for the foreseeable future. As of right now, here’s what we have for you.

You’re all probably aware that AB5 completed shifted the way SB Nation has done business in the past. All contracts for independent contractors have ended, and the company has decided to input a structure that includes 15 full-time positions so far to cover the 25 sites that make-up the California Fan Community.

Picture 15 full-time positions (so far) split into two groups.

On one side, you have the “producer” role, otherwise known as “the voice” of the sites. They will write a longer, more in-depth articles. The X’s and O’s-type of articles, features, and articles with more analysis in them. This is Kyle’s position. All of the producers report directly to the editorial manager.

On the other side, at the top, there is the community manager. This person oversees the community editors. That is my position.

The community editor’s main goal is to cultivate the sense of community and write the “planned” content. In other words, the type of content you can predict is going to be written — the “Golden Nuggets” posts, open threads, how to watch, etc. I’ll also be as active as possible within the comments section, continuing to get to know all of you and working to create an even better community at NN. Also, to ensure that trolls aren’t ruining threads from other blogs.

The two positions are also not super black and white. We’ll both be creating original content for the site, but both of us will just have an area we will be focused on before anything else.

We were also told that we could expect a handful of part-time hires soon who will also help out with coverage across the California communities. We aren’t exactly sure when that will be, but the plan is to get this situated sooner rather than later.

I understand that this still might leave some people unnerved because it’s likely taken some familiar voices and faces away from that you all are used to seeing around the website. The beautiful thing about Niners Nation is that it is such a large and faithful community. You’re all going to continue having the opportunity to enjoy content from full-time employees. With the way SB Nation is now addressing the other California sites, websites like Bolts From The Blue and Turf Show Times are going to be able to benefit from full-time help, too.

If there’s one thing I want you all to take away from this, it’s that the community is in phenomenal hands. I have never been around a more passionate and knowledgeable group of people than I was this past week. The future is incredibly bright for the entire California community, and Niners Nation is at the forefront of it all.

I hope this sheds some necessary light on the subject, and if anyone still has questions regarding the recent transition, please reach out, and I’ll do my best to answer those for you.