As the final day of August 2023 winds down, it’s the perfect time to celebrate TheSabre.com just ahead of kickoff. After all, this site became The Sabre 25 years ago this fall!

Back in 1998 as football season began, the site officially changed from VirginiaFootball.com and VirginiaBasketball.com to TheSabre.com to make way for the start of the official University of Virginia site that is VirginiaSports.com. At the same time, The Sabre adopted its new name and became a credentialed member of the media pool that covers UVA athletics. At the time, this site was one of the first internet publications to receiver that honor while it is common place today.

In the 25 years since, Virginia has won 22 NCAA team National Championships. That includes the 2019 National Championship in men’s basketball among many others. The Sabre has been there to cover many of those titles from Minneapolis for that 2019 crown to Philadelphia for the 2006 undefeated men’s lacrosse title to a lot of other stops along the way.

There have been many other incredible moments too. The football comeback in 1998 at Virginia Tech. The penalty kicks National Championship for men’s soccer in 2009. The late night message board fun of Lake Elsinore. The Elite Eight game with Purdue. And more.

As TheSabre.com celebrates its 25th Anniversary year, I just wanted to thank this community. This fan community has grown and supported the Hoos and The Sabre simultaneously.

You’ve allowed a fan group such as Wilk Hall to grow out of a ticket pick-up misunderstanding. You’ve allowed numerous interns to work and gain experience before going on to jobs with Major League Baseball, the New England Patriots, and more. You’ve allowed us to spotlight professional sports dreams for people like Tyler Wilson, Stephanie Marie Garcia, Clint Sintim, and Alvin Pearman. You’ve provided fun moments from BTTS to KMFT. And so much more.

You’ve also allowed me to cover Virginia athletics beginning all the way back in the old Sabre newsletters as a student all the way to now as a co-owner of the site with another alum. I’ve met many people through this journey, including many of you personally. It’s a blessing.

Our vision going forward is for this to continue to be a fan community more than anything else. A place where Hoos from anywhere and everywhere can gather to follow, celebrate, commiserate, and simply enjoy being a Cavalier fan.

Part of beginning this 25th year as TheSabre.com will be to celebrate the community you’ve helped build. We’ll have some give-aways on the 25th of the month for the rest of 2023. We’re planning some merchandise that we think you might like and investigating possible events for fans to gather and connect. We want to produce content about the top moments of these 25 years. We are exploring NIL possibilities to support student-athletes further and want to continue offering exclusive Zoom opportunities with some of them in front of fans as well.

In short, we’re preparing to move The Sabre into the future while celebrating the past. TheSabre.com a fully independent site once again under Hoo ownership - we want to continue to and expand ways to connect Wahoos.

You can help celebrate and support these efforts as a subscriber or Friend Of The Sabre. With the strong community and dedicated user base that we have, the strength in numbers support through financial backing can be a major boost for what’s possible. Every 100 annual subscribers, for example, equals approximately $10,000 in revenue. UVA alumni have always supported one another and this is a way to support a Hoo-owned business.

The three main ways to provide financial support beyond future merchandise and events sales are:

Subscribe: Subscribing to the site gives you access to our content and even if
you can't or don't want to read/watch/listen to it all, it ALSO supports free areas of the site, the overall budget, and the site additions of
the future. You can subscribe here.

Friends Of The Sabre: If you don't have time for the content, but love the message boards, the conversations, the community, the information resources, our social media, and more, then this would be an easy and effective way to support those efforts. Friends earlier in 2023 were invited to exclusive Zooms with Ryan Dunn, Jayden Gardner, and Reece Beekman. You get a message board badge and certain levels receive gifts after 6 months of continuous giving, message board sponsorship by your name, and more. Sign up here.

Gift Subscriptions: Know a Virginia fan? Give them the gift of a subscription. It directly supports the site and gives them 365 days of UVA connected entertainment. You can do this easily and quickly through the site by clicking on this link. Just let us know when to send out the gift email and we’ll take care of the rest.

The Sabre looks forward to celebrating these 25 years with you for the rest of 2023 and beyond. We have been part of the fabric of the Virginia fan experience over the last 25+ years and we don’t take that for granted and we believe that fans don’t either. I personally thank you for your support of a fellow Hoo.

Go Hoos!