When athletes start media companies, we all root for them to succeed. We want to see players control their narratives, build their brands, invest in content that matters. But what happened at Boardroom this week is a stark reminder that good intentions don't always translate to good business.<br/><br/>Boardroom, the sports media and entertainment brand co-founded by Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman, has eliminated its entire full-time editorial team. According to Phil Lewis, the layoffs were unexpected, and the dismissed staff weren't even given the chance to export their email contacts before being cut off.<br/><br/>Let me be blunt here, folks - this is what happens when owners don't invest in their product. This is about the future of sports media and whether athletes can successfully run media companies. And right now, this isn't a good look.<br/><br/>The timing makes it worse. This comes just days after Durant was involved in a viral situation involving alleged leaked chats from a burner account. Whether that's related or not, the optics are terrible. Your media company is making headlines for all the wrong reasons while gutting the people who were supposed to create the content.<br/><br/>Boardroom had potential. It had KD's star power behind it. It had access that traditional media could only dream of. But access doesn't mean anything if you're not willing to invest in the people who can turn that access into compelling content.<br/><br/>This is a pet peeve of mine - owners who don't invest in winning. And in media, your editorial team is your team. They're the writers, the editors, the producers who make your brand worth following. Cutting them loose overnight? That's tanking, sports media edition.<br/><br/>I hope the laid-off journalists land on their feet. They deserve better than being blindsided and locked out of their email. And I hope Kevin Durant figures out what he wants Boardroom to be - because right now, it looks like another athlete vanity project that couldn't sustain itself.<br/><br/>In sports, we celebrate athletes who invest in winning. This isn't that.
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