Is Pro Football Focus Broke?
Pro Football Focus decided to lay off 16 full-time employees right before the holidays. 11 interns were also laid off as PFF faces a serious financial crisis. Their product stinks and a lot of people are starting to figure it out.
PFF received a $50 million investment from Silver Lake and somehow all of that money is gone! Where did it go? In a must-read piece by Front Office Sports, it documents PFF’s troubles.
Below will be some important quotes from the article that I will dive into further.
“But sources revealed to Front Office Sports the causes for PFF’s staff reduction, which ran contrary to the reputation of a budding analytics company for college and pro football organizations.”
“The company principally owned by NBC “Sunday Night Football” analyst Cris Collinsworth has spent most of that Silver Lake investment in an attempt to lure in customers interested in sports betting and fantasy football — and sources with knowledge of the situation told FOS a major portion of the money went to the development of an iPhone app alone.”
Authenticity wins. PFF forgot that valuable lesson. Nobody cares about their actual analysis. It’s a bunch of brain dead nerds that don’t have more of a personality than this door nob I’m staring at. Nobody is going to PFF for gambling advice. They want their data collection information for player stats. That’s what they do and that’s why they exist. Collinsworth doesn’t seem to understand that but it shouldn’t be a surprise. Have you seen him call games at night?
“Founded by Neil Hornsby in 2007, PFF revolutionized how players are scouted, and business gradually built up a following as analytics began to gain a foothold across sports. The company didn’t even take a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan during the pandemic’s early days. Just a year ago, all employees received a 10% bonus as revenues beat expectations.”
Hornsby took a sabbatical last December and has since left the company altogether. Hornsby’s reluctance to push more heavily into sports betting and fantasy sports were factors in his departure, sources told FOS.”
I can guarantee you whoever this Neil Hornsby has the right vision. Investors and other outside voices diluted the product and it shows. Hornsby wanted to build the numbers side of the business which is the core beliefs of PFF. Collinsworth has since sunk PFF’s money into gambling and fantasy football. Two things that PFF was never known for under Hornsby. Are the money issues Collinsworth’s fault? Probably.
“Cris Collinsworth is a regular fixture at PFF, but sources told FOS that he can be hands-off during the NFL season as he focuses on his NBC Sports duties. That leaves many of the day-to-day responsibilities to others.”
“Collinsworth’s son, Austin, was installed as chief operating officer, and George Chahrouri, are the main stewards at PFF. Chahrouri, who started on the data side of the business in 2017, is currently the general manager of PFF’s consumer offerings. Austin’s brother, Jac, works on the SNF broadcasts with Cris.”
“It was a mixture of nepotism and stupidity,” one source said.
It’s starting to make sense now, isn’t it? During actual football season, Collinsworth doesn’t do anything because of his broadcasting job. Your business isn’t going to grow that way, buddy, but I digress.
PFF George job a promotion!?! That guy. No, seriously… THIS GUY. One of the dumbest humans I’ve ever seen speak about sports. The fact that he got a promotion at any company that talks sports is insane.
“Doug Kyed, a highly respected NFL reporter who left NESN after nearly nine years covering the New England Patriots to take a job at PFF in July 2021, was among the layoffs. Chahrouri — who was part of the decision to cut Kyed — actually retweeted Gayle’s tweet that vouched for Kyed.”
Unbelievable. How PFF George got to decide the fate of his coworkers only proves everything that I’ve been saying about PFF. Trash company that does the wrong thing all the time. AND their information stinks too.
I have a few more thoughts so stay with me. How did you blow $500 million by building an app? Seriously, I really want to know. When I end up getting an app for Vendetta, I can promise you it will cost me $500 million less than what you paid for it and it will be better.
Also, I got some inside information from a person inside PFF’s building. That person may or may not still be working there. Just know I have a mole in your hole. I was told by that person that it’s a grind to even get to 2,000 views on a single article. With the amount of resources they have by millionaire investors, that’s hashtag not good. I guess what I’m trying to tell you is they’re in more trouble than the layoffs indicate.
