Gary Shelton to launch sports paysite, competition for Tampa Bay Times

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What does a popular newspaperman do after leaving the paper he served for a quarter century?

These days, he starts his own membership-only website — competing with his former employer.

Former Tampa Bay Times sports columnist Gary Shelton, in his final dispatch on Friday, announced he would be launching GarySheltonsports.com, a subscription-based website covering (what else) local sports.

“We’ll look at sports in the Tampa Bay market,” Shelton wrote in his farewell column. “Sports that vex us and frustrate us, and every now and then, define us.”

A lofty goal, indeed, and one that will put the sportswriter in direct competition with the Times.

Nevertheless, after 24-some-odd years building a loyal audience, it is not an unreasonable goal.

Peter Schorsch is the President of Extensive Enterprises and is the publisher of some of Florida’s most influential new media websites, including SaintPetersBlog.com, FloridaPolitics.com, ContextFlorida.com, and Sunburn, the morning read of what’s hot in Florida politics. SaintPetersBlog has for three years running been ranked by the Washington Post as the best state-based blog in Florida. In addition to his publishing efforts, Peter is a political consultant to several of the state’s largest governmental affairs and public relations firms. Peter lives in St. Petersburg with his wife, Michelle, and their daughter, Ella.