A New Home for Eighty Six Forever

We provide an update on upcoming changes to the community.

As you probably know, SB Nation and Vox Media announced they were ending their relationship with most MLS and NHL blogs back in February. While this was a surprising and disappointing announcement at the time, it was also an opportunity.

Since I’ve been at Eighty Six Forever, the site has always been defined by the community, the writers, readers, commentators, and critics. The passion and involvement of the community is what has made the site so much fun to run, and it’s the reason all of us at Eighty Six Forever enjoy covering the Vancouver Whitecaps and Canadian soccer through all the trials and tribulations.

Since Vox’s announcement, the goal has always been to maintain and grow the community we have built, and we hope that our next step will do just that. At the beginning of April, the Eighty Six Forever site as we know it will go dark. However, over the last month or so, we’ve been working on a plan to create a new home for Eighty Six Forever content, and that the home is thethirdsub.ca.

The goal with The Third Sub is to bring together the best independent coverage of west coast Canadian soccer in one place. Not only will this include the Eighty Six Forever team, but The Third Sub will also incorporate the tremendous coverage of Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic, who I’ve been partnered with on The Third Sub Podcast for the last couple of years. While we were working on Eighty Six Forever, Alex built a community of his own covering the Whitecaps and Canadian soccer with Between the Sticks, and now felt like as good a time as any to bring those communities together. An additional aim of The Third Sub going forward is to provide an expanded scope of local soccer coverage, including more comprehensive reporting on the CPL, League 1 BC, and the grassroots level.

Now, what do all of these changes indicate for you, the reader? Hopefully, not too much of significance. We plan on delivering the same Eighty Six Forever content you’ve come to expect on the new platform. Archived content from the original Eighty Six Forever site will be synced come the beginning of April, and hopefully this will be a relatively seamless process. One change of note is that SB Nation user accounts will no longer be valid on the new site. This means that you will have to create a new user account to post comments at thethirdsub.ca. I’ve tried this myself and it’s a simple process, all you need to do is provide a name and email address. Finally, website re-directs from eightysixforever.com and btsvancity.com will be in place to help you find exactly what you are looking for.

One of the huge benefits of the new site, as I mentioned off the top, is opportunity. Unlike the SB Nation days, we are no longer restricted by platform limitations and corporate policy. So, if you have questions, comments, or suggestions for what you’d like to see on the site, we are absolutely open to that feedback.

As a final note, I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who’s supported and contributed to the Eighty Six Forever community while we were a part of the SB Nation umbrella. The support over the years has been incredible and we truly appreciate it! You’re the best. We’re looking forward to the next chapter and hope that you are as well.