In 2014, ESPN announced the creation of a new website "that will provide in-depth coverage, commentary and insight on sports, race and culture directed towards the African-American audience". Editor-in-chief
Jason Whitlock described the then-unnamed site as a "Black
Grantland", a reference to the now-defunct ESPN sports website overseen by popular sports columnist
Bill Simmons. Whitlock said the name "
The Undefeated" was inspired by a passage from American poet Maya Angelou: "You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated." While the site was still in development, a
Deadspin report alleged that Whitlock was "poisoning"
The Undefeated with an unconventional management style that made it difficult for the site to attract and retain prime talent, with several anonymous sources documenting an extremely negative work environment. On June 12, 2015, Whitlock had been removed from his post, and he attributed his dismissal to "numerous reasons, including my foolish belief that I could manage like a football coach. I learned there's an art to corporate politics that I'm not good at." On October 19, 2015,
Kevin Merida, author, journalist and
Washington Post managing editor, took over the editor-in-chief position at
The Undefeated. He left to become executive editor of the
Los Angeles Times in 2021.
Raina Kelley, who was the managing editor since 2015, became editor-in-chief. On February 27, 2022,
The Undefeated officially changed its name to
Andscape. The name change was because Andscape intended to expand into book publishing, live experiences, music, television and film, but ESPN and Disney did not own The Undefeated trademark outside of news and commentary. == Notable achievements ==