Announcement: Sam Ekstrom joins Purple Insider

The Purple Insider team is growing with veteran Vikings reporter and broadcaster Sam Ekstrom coming on board as a writer and podcaster

Hello everyone.

I’m pleased to announce that Sam Ekstrom is joining Purple Insider as a writer and podcast co-host.

For five years I’ve shared the media room (and golf course) with Sam and I jumped at the first opportunity to bring him on board. He’s smart, hard working, creative and often times sees things differently from me.

A quick story: For the 2017 NFC Championship, Sam got approval from his previous bosses to travel to Philadelphia at the last minute and his budget was extremely small so he flew to DC and rode a bus to Philly. When he finally got to the press box, he wasn’t assigned a seat, so he pulled up a chair behind me and covered the heck out of that game. He had to stand out in the cold late at night after the game waiting for a bus back to DC to fly back.

Purple Insider will only ever be a place for that type of dedication to bringing everything we possibly can for those who support us.

This addition brings fresh voice and perspective — so now hopefully all of you won’t get tired of me talking about why the Vikings need a third receiver in the draft. However, this will not reduce my voice here. I’ll still be writing and podcasting just as often. Sam will have plenty of his own articles but we’ll also have many collaborative pieces where we debate topics, make and compare lists (top free agents lists coming soon!) and answer your questions/comments.

It was always my goal to transform Purple Insider from my little Vikings hub with hundreds of my closest subscriber friends into a competitive outlet for football coverage in the Twin Cities. This is a huge step toward that and I’m very proud of the progress Purple Insider has made and deeply grateful for all those who have supported it.

If you haven’t yet become a full subscriber, use the link below to get a special offer to celebrate the occasion:

— Matthew Coller

A note from Sam Ekstrom:

Hello, Purple Insider! It feels good to be added to the roster.

After seven years covering the Vikings for the great people at Zone Coverage, I am teaming up with Matthew Coller to add another layer to Purple Insider’s Vikings coverage, and I couldn’t be more excited. Matthew and I have combined for 12 seasons on the Vikings beat together, and we’re extremely pumped to merge our reporting, writing and podcasting skillsets to bring you some of the best Vikings content in 2021 and beyond.

Let me start out by embarrassing my new business partner with some complimentary words: Only because of Matthew’s ingenuity and entrepreneurship was this move possible. He got dealt a bad hand when pandemic-related layoffs hit his radio station, brushed himself off and built an incredible business in less than a year — in a season where media access was severely limited, no less! As a consumer of Purple Insider these last nine months, it was easy to see the work Matthew poured into it. Daily content? Daily podcasts? Breaking news reactions? This guy is a machine! Perhaps now that he has a helping hand, I’ll convince him to take a vacation, but probably not…

Seriously, it’s an honor to join Matthew in Purple Insider’s quest to bring you informed, entertaining Vikings content year-round. So what can you expect from me? Multiple podcast appearances each week, for one. Plenty of collaboration with Matthew on free agency stories, draft outlooks, etc. And more of the same feature writing that many of you enjoyed over at Zone Coverage.

Matthew and I will work hard for you every day. We’ll be at every press conference, every practice, every home game (and some of the road games!). We’ll leave no stone unturned keeping you in the loop with our original content. And to the loyal listeners of my old podcast, The Football Machine, maybe some of our ridiculous games (Memory Frenzy, anyone?) will leak into the Purple Insider Podcast someday…

Check back Tuesday for my first piece: A look into four big moves the Vikings should make over the next four months to put them back on track toward a division championship. To make sure you get the story sent straight to your inbox, use this promo link for 25% off a year’s subscription. I promise we’ll make it worth your investment.

Can’t wait to get started!

— Sam

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