(EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of a two-part series on former Olean Times Herald sports intern Tyler Dunne who, after stints with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Buffalo News, covering the Packers and Bills, respectively, and Bleacher Report writing NFL stories, now has his own web presence called Go Long.)
After a staff reduction at Bleacher Report, Tyler Dunne, one of the country’s leading pro football writers, was out of a job and uncertain what was next.
“I was quote-unquote a free agent trying to decide what the next move is,” he said, admitting that starting his own web presence was a consideration. “I had other opportunities with some newspapers and some (web)sites with good salaries and benefits, which was great.
“But the more I learned about the newsletter model and basically doing the job the way I wanted to do it, telling stories, doing long-form (pieces) I wanted to try it, really tapping into that Rolodex from the Journal Sentinel to the News to Bleacher Report. It added up to a point where I was pretty confident that I had enough connections around the league (to start one).”
THUS, Go Long was born.
He started the NFL-oriented newsletter in November of 2020 and the response has been, using Dunne’s word, “Fantastic.”
“It’s already exceeded all my wildest expectations and hopes,” he said, noting the site now also does a podcast. “It was a whole new world, I’d never heard of Substack (a system for publishing on the web) in my life. If I would have done this five-, six years ago, I wouldn’t have been able to do it because I would have been too Packer or too Bills heavy. But those five years at Bleacher Report helped broaden that horizon.”
Dunne continued, “I wasn’t nervous about writing good stories … it was ‘Are people going to pay for it to support me financially?’ It was a grind early and I think it was because I was putting a lot of stuff out for free just to get the word out … it’s so valuable just to get eyeballs.
“Now I’m at a place where most stuff I do is behind that pay wall or comes with a free preview. Gradually, I’ve seen people come around to ‘If I want to watch these TV shows I’ve got to get Netflix or Amazon Prime or Hulu and if I want to read about football and go beyond the box score and gifs and tweets and memes and learn something, it’s gonna cost a cup of coffee a month.’ I think a lot of people are coming around to that. I didn’t know when that turning point would be. We’re in a place now where it can support our family comfortably. But you feel indebted to the subscriber base because they’ve invested in you.”
STILL, Dunne’s foray into the business world wasn’t unexpected.
“Growing up and seeing my dad (Steve) take the risk he did when he started Plateau Energy … he believed in his geology and his ability to run a business,” the 35-year-old Syracuse alumnus explained. “But he took a huge leap for our family and my mom (Lori) gave up her passion (graphic design) to stay with us (kids). So seeing that and living that family dynamic and having the best parents ever … I kind of knew I was probably going to take on an entrepreneurial jump at some point.”
Dunne admitted, “I wasn’t sure what it would be in journalism. I’ve loved every place I’ve been … I could have stayed at the Buffalo News forever, the Journal Sentinal forever but it felt like the right time to take the risk … but you only take the risk if you’ve got a wife and the mother of your kids that will sacrifice.
“In this job it’s so easy to become career-obsessed … what’s next, what’s next, what’s next. But having a dad who was literally at every one of our games growing up, creating memories was a great lesson. My dad worked his butt off but he was able to be at our games because he was his own boss. That’s where I am, my family (wife Gina, 3- and 1-year-old children) is everything.”
(Chuck Pollock, an Olean Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
