Hi, I'm Dan Pramak and welcome to Axios Recap, sponsored by What It Takes.

Today is Thursday, July 30th.

Stocks are down, NASA's new Mars rover is up, and we're focused on the Deadspin reunion tour.

Later tonight, the NBA kicks off its restart with a pair of games from the bubble in Orlando. Among those sure to be watching are the 18 or so sports writers who late last year quit the popular

site deadspin in protest over private equity-backed management interference in their editorial decisions.

This week, we learned that the ex-deadspinners have resurrected themselves into something called

Defector Media, a new sports and culture media company that soft launches with a podcast next month

and then goes fully online in early September.

Why it matters is that the broader media industry is watching Defector very carefully,

particularly the countless journalists who either have been laid off or who are worried about getting laid off.

Defector is going to use a subscription model and claims 10,000 people signed up in the 24 hours after its Monday announcement.

Most of those staffers, they're not getting paid up front.

Instead, they will get cash once the revenue begins to flow.

There are also no outside investors, with every founding employee getting equity.

Taking a step back, there isn't a media model right now that works universally.

Some sites have raised venture capital funding and have prospered.

Others have taken venture capital funding and succumb to the weight of growth expectations.

Some legacy sites have successfully leveraged their brands to build thriving subscription businesses.

Others have launched subscription businesses and found no takers.

If Defector can succeed, it at least presents another path that others could try to emulate.

In 15 seconds, we will go deeper with former Deadspin writer and current Defector Media co-founder, Getty Nathan. But first, this.

We're joined now by Giddy Nathan, formerly of Deadspin, now of Defector Media. So Giddy, let's start

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