A FanGraphs Update: We’re Asking for Your Help

This is not how I planned to begin FanGraphs’ 15th year.

I wanted to take a moment to personally inform all of our readers about what’s been going on at FanGraphs these past few weeks, and to share our plans going forward.

Starting March 12, after the announcement that Opening Day would be postponed, we have seen a steep decline in our site traffic that has lead to a correspondingly dramatic decline in revenue. Every piece you read and tool you use at FanGraphs is free to access, but they all take money to create. We are a small business. We rely on the revenue generated by site traffic.

As a result of these declines, I’ve had to make fairly aggressive budget cuts to try to keep FanGraphs viable as a company until the COVID-19 pandemic is resolved and baseball returns. This has involved all of our full-time staff members taking pay cuts, laying off the majority of our contributors, and closing The Hardball Times for the foreseeable future. Now we are asking for your help.

FanGraphs employs 10 full-time staff members who, along with our contributors, produce 200-300 articles each month in addition to our ever-growing inventory of stats, graphs, and tools. Our mission is still to bring you the very best baseball statistics and analysis.

We realize this isn’t necessarily the best time to ask for your help. You have concerns of your own. All of us are anxious in the face of economic uncertainty. We’re all worried about our health, and the health of our loved ones and friends. We’re all worried about what comes next. Quite frankly, our front-line medical workers and emergency personnel, and those who are sick or have lost loved ones, need your assistance most. But if you can spare it, we are asking for your support.

If you read our work, ask our writers questions in chats, listen to our podcasts, browse RosterResource, peruse The Board for prospect rankings, or use our stat pages, please consider a FanGraphs membership. If you work in a baseball front office, and your team all uses one membership login, consider signing up for a few more. Consider an ad-free membership! In addition to helping to ensure there is a FanGraphs when baseball returns, you’ll enjoy the site without banner ads, facilitating faster loading times for just $50 a year.

To all of our existing Members, thank you so much for supporting the site. Being a member is the best way to support FanGraphs.

To all of our readers, we are going to continue asking for your support. We are going to ask pretty frequently. We know there’s no baseball right now, but we’re still writing and building and trying our best to help provide a bit of respite from the pandemic. And when baseball comes back, we want to be here for you.

Once again, thank you for reading and for your support.

Stay safe, and be well.





David Appelman is the creator of FanGraphs.

347 Comments
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Earl of Emember
3 years ago

David – This site has given me a tremendous amount of enjoyment and intellectual stimulation for many years. I am sure I speak for many readers when I say that I will do what I can to continue to support FanGraphs.

Giolito's changeup
3 years ago
Reply to  David Appelman

David,

Please keep us informed of your efforts to move Fangraphs forward. We are there for you and your fellow colleagues.

cowdisciplemember
3 years ago
Reply to  David Appelman

Is there a way I can buy a membership without the auto-renewal option? I loathe those. I’d be happy to buy another year of ad-free if there’s a way to do it without auto renewal.

highlandcowmember
3 years ago
Reply to  cowdisciple

There’s an option to disable auto-renew in the subscription page. Not sure you can see it before you subscribe, but I assure you it’s there 🙂

edit: nice username.

frankmember
3 years ago
Reply to  highlandcow

Ok, I subscribed. Now how do I disable auto-renew?

highlandcowmember
3 years ago
Reply to  frank

Go here: https://plus.fangraphs.com/my-account/subscriptions/

Click on your active subscription.
Set “Auto renew” so payment says “Via Manual Renewal”.

timmember
3 years ago
Reply to  David Appelman

David maybe an answer would be to offer a multi year or lifetime membership opportunity. I would definitely sign up today for one of these options to show my long term support for FANGRAPHS.

jeremybowersmember
3 years ago
Reply to  tim

I would love to pay a decade of fees up front.

Okramember
3 years ago
Reply to  David Appelman

Hey David
If y’all still need some help after this push please don’t be afraid to ask. I think it was Jeff Sullivan who called this the ‘one good place on the internet’. I couldn’t agree more. I’ve got a membership but am willing to help more if needed. If you need to do a fundraiser I think auctioning off tickets to a game (whenever they start again) with a staff member would be fun. Could maybe include Fangraphs alumni too if possible.

world_dictator
3 years ago
Reply to  Okra

This is actually a really cool idea

reynolds352member
3 years ago
Reply to  David Appelman

Just signed up, ad-free yearly. Please add stuff to the store. Coffee mug, men’s medium shirts. I’ll snatch them up in a heartbeat!

kjgilbermember
3 years ago
Reply to  reynolds352

thumbs up to coffee mug!

Benjaminmember
3 years ago
Reply to  reynolds352

I’d like to see an option where we could support FanGraphs beyond just the annual membership, especially in these strange days. Perhaps a separate option for straight donations to support FG?

Another possibility would be establishing another membership tier beyond your ads-free option. I belong to another (non-baseball) site that has different membership tiers–e.g., basic membership is $25, but for $100 you get premium membership plus a product of your choice.

lipitorkidmember
3 years ago
Reply to  reynolds352

I would love to see someone come up with some fun new Fangraphs designs. Something like the Justin Mason designs for Rotowear but designed around the Fangraphs staff, or just some Fangraphs insider stuff put on a shirt.

dodgerbleu
3 years ago
Reply to  reynolds352

Where in the H is this store everyone keeps referring to?

RoyalsFan#14321member
3 years ago
Reply to  dodgerbleu

Click on “Membership” in the header – it’s the second choice down.

dodgerbleu
3 years ago

Nice thank you