The Future of Hockey Wilderness

Hi, my name is Thomas Williams and I'm the managing editor of Hockey Wilderness, a hockey blog that has been covering the Minnesota Wild for over 15 years.

Last Friday, we were informed by our parent company, Vox Media, that our site would no longer be "managed and monetized" by them. This means that our contributors and editors will no longer be paid going forward. They will receive their last monthly stipend for February 2023, and beyond that, we are all on our own.

In addition to letting us go, Vox Media has given us no details about our future site. We have been given potential options to keep our domain and our brand as Hockey Wilderness, but there have been no details provided beyond these unrealized ideas. But we are not ready to give up and call it quits, so we are planning for our future, whatever it will look like.

Over the years, Hockey Wilderness has been at the center of online coverage of the Minnesota Wild. It has launched people into new career paths and has been home to thoughtful discussion among loyal fans, and stellar content throughout the years. We want to keep this community alive and that is where you come in. We know that there is going to be costly for us to sustain this site for at least the rest of the 2022-23 season, but we want to do it for you.

These funds will help keep the site around beyond February 28 and will also ensure that we can take care of our writers who have been significantly impacted by Vox Media cutting their funding to the site.

In all transparency, Hockey Wilderness was operating on a budget of $1,100 USD per month, which paid for our site manager, editors, writers, and other contributors. Every dollar we raise will be used to ensure that coverage of the Wild continues for the remainder of the season and move us towards the goal of keeping this site alive for seasons to come.

It will take time, but we are happy to have a passionate support system of readers and commenters who are active participants in our community and we want to make sure that we have a new place for them to come to.

Thank you so much for reading, spreading the word, and giving what you can if you can.