Those of you who have been following us for the past 19 years know our story (if you don’t, you can read it here). We are two long-time best friends turned NC State roommates who had an idea.
As the media landscape was changing and social media was becoming more prevalent, we believed there was room in the market for a site that covered NC State athletics free of charge to the user. Something that was more accessible to everyone, especially students, who are some of the most engaged fans, but also don’t have the disposable income to spend on digital news sites.
That was the idea behind what started long ago as Wolfpack Hoops and has since become Pack Insider.
Our inspiration for this idea came from our favorite site at the time, and the one we pooled our money together to subscribe to as students, PackPride.com.
Pack Pride was the biggest name in the NC State media game. We had been following them for years, even back when they were a smaller, independent site called StateFans.com. It too was started by a couple of NC State grads, and it eventually became THE place for Wolfpack fans to gather and get their information.
Eventually, it outgrew its independent model, signed on with a national network, Scout.com, and became Pack Pride.
There wasn’t a better site out there for NC State news. The team hired James Henderson to run the site and grow the brand. And he did a great job. Pack Pride grew to have the largest following of any NC State outlet online. He eventually left to start his own site and is now the owner of Inside Pack Sports.
Eventually, Scout.com was acquired by 247 Sports, and 247 continued its contract with the Pack Pride brand. With James gone, the Pack Pride founders hired Cory Smith to take his place.
Pack Pride continued to be the leading brand covering NC State sports, but over the years, our little free site had grown too. Across all social media, Pack Insider had garnered the second-largest following among NC State outlets.
Then, earlier this year, Pack Pride announced that their contract with 247 was up and they were parting ways. The NC State 247 site rebranded to Pack Power 247 while Pack Pride, and its 200k followers, were left without a website or a publisher.
Over the next few months, the Pack Pride founders conducted interviews with networks, outlets, journalists, and creators, and we were one of them.
They were looking for a new publisher and asked us what we believed the future of NC State coverage looked like and what our plan was to bring it to life.
We shared with them our vision for an NC State site that not only was informative but also entertaining. A fan-first site that shared news but also opinion, constantly pushed the envelope on new forms of content (made possible by the fact that we built and own our own platform), and served as a voice of the fanbase. But we made it clear that whatever we do, one non-negotiable was that we were going to always stay 100% free to the user.
As we worked through partnership options, it became clear that the best move forward was for us to acquire Pack Pride and to merge the two largest NC State followings into one. They would trust us with their legacy, and we would enter into our next chapter as a site, which ironically would bring our entire story full circle.
From Wolfpack Hoops to Pack Insider and finally to the brand that inspired us to start this in the first place… PACK PRIDE.
So, now to what you really want to know. What does this mean for YOU?
For the Pack Insider readers, nothing changes but the name at the top of the site. Same ownership. Same team. Same platform. Same model. STILL 100% FREE!
Both PackInsider.com and PackPride.com will direct you to the same site you’ve been visiting for years. It will have the same voice, the same writers, and the same type of content you’re used to. You don’t have to do anything other than keep following along.
Essentially, this change gives us the ability to reach more Wolfpack fans, produce new types of content, build out our team, help with NIL initiatives and school funding drives, all while continuing to deliver you that NC State fan-centric coverage that you’ve come to expect from us over the past 19 years.
Thanks for sticking with us over this long and exciting journey, and we’re hopeful you’ll enjoy where we’re planning to take this thing!
