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As the pandemic has taken Division III student-athletes off the playing courts, fields and other surfaces, we all have felt a profound loss. For the D3sports.com sites, the loss is quite stark.
With almost zero games played since mid-March, we have lost about 93% of our traffic. With traffic comes the revenue which we need to keep the sites operational. We have been harsh about cutting costs, but there are fixed costs associated with keeping servers operating for our news sites as well as D3boards.com, and those are costs we must meet, not to mention the costs that come with creating content.
In addition, people increasingly use ad blockers as they browse, even though we swore off invasive advertising methods more than 15 years ago, and that means we do not get the revenue that otherwise we would from each visit.
We have never been good at asking for money, but we are asking now. I have opened a Patreon to help support D3sports.com by making sure we can get through the pandemic and generate a more steady stream of revenue to help us year-round, not just in November-December and February-March.
If you're a fan who relies on us for our news, schedules and scoreboard pages, our Top 25 poll, and our weekly awards, might a small recurring donation of what you might spend on a trip to the coffee shop be something you can manage?
If you're a coach who relies on our data to make your job easier, might you be able to swing a monthly subscription donation out of your budget?
If you're a superfan who loves what we have done on D3football.com for the past 21 years, might you even give more?
We will create some exclusive content for subscribers and we will love you to death, but if we're being honest: This is about keeping D3sports.com sites running.
Thank you for your consideration. We couldn't be here without you, and that's true now more than ever.
— Pat Coleman, D3sports.com
Would you prefer to make a one-time gift? We've set up a page for that.