I'm sure many of you longtime Stampede Blue (and SB Nation) readers have some questions about what the partnership with Yahoo means for this blog. Well, first off, let me state clearly that Yahoo did not "buy" SB Nation. I am not a Yahoo employee. Though Yahoo is one of the few companies I actually like (no, I am not kissing ass; it's true), I am still an SB Nation employee. Yahoo does not control this site's content. They don't edit it. They don't critique it. They don't phone me from their mother ship and tell me to stop bashing Peter King.
To best explain what this partnership is about, I shall quote the great Russ from Puruple Row (via Mile High Report):
Yahoo has no control over how any site runs or looks. They just get the most relevant content possible for each team instead of having to build there own network. We, as a network, gain credibility.
Yahoo wanted to get into the business of building a great, community-based blogging network, but rather than spend a ton of money building the network from scratch and hiring bloggers, they decided to partner with us. This means that my content (and the stuff written by shake n bake, mgrex03, and others) rolls up on Yahoo Sports' pages. Our articles are seen on their Colts page. Our articles will roll-up on box score pages. Yahoo readers can now log into SB Nation blogs using their Yahoo ID.
This also means that SB Nation blogs are "Yahoo-Affiliated." This will hopefully break down a few barriers with leagues like the NFL, allowing us more access to players, coaches, and events (like the NFL Draft).
The one catch in all this is a small one: No cursing, foul language, or demeaning statements in the titles of articles. So, I have been asked (politely) not to write titles like "Mike Florio is a douchebag." What is said in the article body, or in the comments section, is still same as normal. They just want us SB Nation bloggers to clean up our article titles, making them more concise and easier to hook readers with; a very small price to pay for Yahoo affiliation.
If you have questions about the partnership, feel from to comment, or shoot me an email: sbnationcolts@yahoo.com.
If you want another indication of where SB Nation is going, check out this Washington Post write-up on one of our company leaders (Jim Bankoff) and the future of SB Nation.
Also, SB Nation is one of the Top 25 Most Valuable Blogs. I permit you to bow before our awesomeness.