Five and a Half Years, 200 Blogs, One Big Success

November 2003.  SB Nation started with a small typepad site called Athletics Nation: Baseball Country.  It was my blog and at the time, I just wanted to talk about my team at a place that was run by a fan.  I didn't know if anyone would show up at the time but I was tired of feeling like my team wasn't the top priority.  I wanted a place that was dedicated to my team and my passion 24/7/365.  I didn't want a 30 second clip on ESPN or a quick mention of a score on KNBR, the local radio station that was infatuated with the Giants.  I want a place to claim my own.

Apparently I was not alone.  Fast forward to 2009 and nearly six years later and SB Nation has officially reached 200 blogs with the launch of Arkansas Razor Expats.    The model of bringing passionate fans together around a common team or sport has brought SB Nation to unparalleled success in sports new media.  SB Nation is now the leading trafficked sports blog network and reaches millions of readers every month.  Thanks to a remarkable technology team and fantastic leadership from our CEO Jim Bankoff, we have a revolutionary blogging platform and partnerships with some of the largest sports media properites on the Web.  We have top tier investors who bought into the same vision that the company was founded on.  And they haven't messed with it.

We've still got a ways to go because we haven't covered all sports adequately just yet.  But I look forward to bringing more passionate fans together as we expand to cover all sports and all teams.  If your team or your sport isn't covered yet, relax with the knowledge that we know what we're missing and we're working very hard to bring it all to you.

I get asked all the time if I ever had any idea of what SB Nation would become when I first started Athletics Nation.  The simple answer to this question is that it was always my idea that fans should be at the forefront of the sport conversation and if that happened, then the sky was the limit.  And we haven't reached it yet.  That's still to come.  One thing that you can be sure is that we will always by be the fans, for the fans and of the fans.  It's the core of what makes SB Nation special.  Thanks for the ride so far and buckle up for the future.