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The Athletic

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For similar terms, seeAthletics (disambiguation)andAthletic (disambiguation).
Not to be confused withThe Atlantic.
The Athletic
Type of site
Sports journalism
Available inEnglish, French (Montreal only)
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
,
United States
OwnerThe New York Times Company[1]
Created by
  • Alex Mather
  • Adam Hansmann
URLwww.nytimes.com/athletic/
CommercialYes
RegistrationRequired
LaunchedJanuary 2016;8 years ago(2016-01)

The Athleticis a subscription-basedsports journalismdepartment ofThe New York Times.

It provides national and local coverage in 47North Americancities as well as theUnited Kingdom.The Athleticalso covers national stories from top professional and college sports.The Athletic's coverage focuses on a mix oflong-formjournalism, original reporting, and in-depth analysis. Its business model is predicated on dis-aggregating the sports section of local newspapers, and reaching non-local fans not reached by a local newspaper.[2]

The Athleticwas founded in 2016 by Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann as an independent subscription-based online sports magazine, and it gradually expanded its stable of writers over the next few years to provide better coverage of more teams in more markets, including in theUnited Kingdom.However, the magazine remained unable to earn enough revenue without advertising to make a profit, and the owners began to seek an outside buyer.The New York Times CompanyacquiredThe Athleticfor $550 million in 2022, initially as a semi-independent entity under the continued direction of Mather and Hansmann. In July 2023, the company dissolved theNew York Times'existing sports department, laid off or reassigned its sports staff, and began operatingThe Athleticas a replacement sports department under new management.[3]

Coverage

[edit]

As of 2022,The Athleticprovided local coverage in 47 cities and regions ofNorth Americaas well as coverage in theUnited Kingdom.[4]It includes the 32National Football Leagueteams, the 30Major League Baseballteams, the 30National Basketball Associationteams, and 23 of the 32National Hockey Leagueteams.

History

[edit]
The Athletic app logo

The Athleticwas founded by Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann, former coworkers at subscription-based fitness companyStrava,with the mission of producing "smarter coverage for die-hard fans."[5]The company was built as an alternative to the struggling ad-supported models.[6]The Athleticrelies onsubscription revenue,notadvertising revenue,to support the business.[7]Mather and Hansmann believed sports fans would be willing to pay for good reporting and writing, a clean app and no ads.[8]At the time, a few newspapers were trying outpaywalls,but the common industry view was that information on the internet needed to be free.[9]

As part ofY Combinator'ssummer 2016 batch,[10]the site originally launched in Chicago in January 2016,[11]with Jon Greenberg serving as the founding editor, along with Sahadev Sharma (Cubs) and Scott Powers (Blackhawks). Greenberg and Powers previously worked at ESPN Chicago, while Sharma leftBaseball Prospectus'Cubs vertical to join the website.

Expansion

[edit]

In October 2016,The Athleticexpanded to a second city,Toronto,to focus onMaple Leafs,Raptors,andBlue Jayscoverage.The AthletichiredJames Mirtleas editor-in-chief for Toronto.[12]Mirtle had spent over a decade as a sportswriter atThe Globe and Mailbefore joiningThe Athletic.

A third city, Cleveland, launched in March 2017, with Jason Lloyd as editor-in-chief.[13]The Athleticcontinued city expansion toDetroitin June 2017 with the hiring ofCraig Custancefrom ESPN as editor-in-chief.[14]

In August 2017, the site launched in theSan Francisco-area market with long-timeSan Jose Mercury NewswritersTim Kawakamias editor-in-chief and Marcus Thompson as columnist.[15][16]The Athleticalso added national coverage with new writers including baseball veteranKen Rosenthal,shortly afterFox Sportseliminated its entire writing staff,[17][18]as well as college basketball standoutSeth Davisand college football institutionStewart Mandel.[19][20]Mandel led the launch of the national college football section, "The All-American", at the end of August.

The Athleticexpanded intoPhiladelphia,Minnesota,Pittsburgh,St. Louis,and the rest ofCanadain September 2017 bringing local coverage to 15 US and Canadian pro sports markets. The vast majority of expansion was aimed at expanding coverage to underserved hockey fans.[21]

In February 2018,The Athleticannounced further expansion into three new cities—New York,Dallas,andCincinnati—and launched baseball-only coverage inHouston,Los Angeles,San Diego,Arizona,andKansas City.[22][23][24]The site also introduced expanded national MLB coverage with the addition ofJayson Stark,Jim Bowden,Eno Sarris, and editor Emma Span.[25]

The site announced full coverage inDenverandBostonstarting in April 2018.[26]In Denver,The Athletichired several reporters fromThe Denver Post.[27]In Boston, the initial staff consisted of beat writers previously employed atThe Boston Globe,theBoston Herald,and the SpringfieldRepublican's web portalMassLive.[28]Adding to college football coverage,The Athleticadded dedicated beat writers for major programs likeAlabama,Georgia,andTennessee.[29]

In May 2018, the site announced coverage of both domestic and international soccer.[30]In June 2018,The Athleticincreased coverage in Los Angeles[31]and expanded intoBuffalo, New York,by hiring several reporters who had been bought out fromThe Buffalo Newsthe same month.[32]

The Athleticcontinued market expansion in July 2018 with the addition ofAtlantawith formerThe Atlanta Journal-Constitutionwriters David O'Brien and Jeff Schultz,Baltimore,andWisconsin.The site also added 19 college football writers to cover most of the majorNCAA footballprograms.[33]

In August 2018,The Athleticlaunched Fantasy Sports coverage and continued expansion across US markets includingWashington, D.C.,Carolina,Nashville,Indiana,Miami,andNew Orleans.[34]The site also announced expanded NBA reporting withShams Charania[35]and NFL coverage withJay Glazer.[36]

The Athleticcompleted local coverage expansion to allNHLandNFLteams by September 2018 after adding writers inJacksonville,Houston,Oklahoma,Oregon,andLas Vegas.Memphiswas added as the 47th local market covered byThe Athleticin October 2018, expanding coverage to all NBA teams.

The Athleticsigned three veteran TV journalists in November 2018, including60 MinutescorrespondentArmen Keteyian,in the publication's efforts to produce more video content as a supplement to written coverage.[37]

In May 2019,The Athleticannounced an expansion intomotorsportscoverage featuring veteran journalistJeff Gluck.WhileNASCARis the dominant focus of coverage,The Athleticaims to be a destination for all motorsports fans by including other major events, such as theIndianapolis 500.[38]

In August 2019,The Athleticexpanded to theUnited Kingdom,predominantly covering domestic and internationalfootball.The team was initially led by managing directorEd Malyonand editor-in-chiefAlex Kay-Jelski.[39][40]

In April 2024, Laura Williamson was announced as the editor-in-chief for UK and Europe. Their stable of writers, includes:Michael Coxand Oliver Kay… David Ornstein andDaniel Taylor.[41][42][43][44][45]

Sale to The New York Times Company

[edit]

The company began exploring a sale to a larger media company in 2021, following continued unprofitability, driven by high expenses and reliance on venture capital funding instead of operational revenue. As of that time, the site had 1.2 million subscribers and $80 million in revenue, having raised $55 million in venture capital funding.Axiosentered discussions withThe Athleticin March of that year but ultimately declined to make an offer.The New York Timeswas the leading contender for a potential acquisition as of May, withVox Mediaalso expressing interest.[46][47]Buyout talks betweenThe AthleticandThe New York Timesended in June 2021.[48]On November 2, 2021, reports emerged thatsports bettingcompaniesDraftKingsandFlutter Entertainment,among other companies, were among some of the bidders for the company.[49]

Ultimately, in January 2022,The New York Times Companyannounced that it would acquireThe Athleticfor $550 million, in a transaction expected to close in the first quarter of 2022. TheTimesnoted thatThe Athleticwould continue to run independently of theTimes,and co-founders Alex Mather and Adam Hansmann would continue to lead the operation.[50]

In June 2023,The Athleticunderwent a reorganization, cutting 4% of its staff, reassigning 20 journalists, and discontinuing the use of team-specific beat reporters.[51][52]The following month,The New York Timesannounced that it would shut down its own sports department in favor of distributing content fromThe Athleticand its reporters via its platforms. ExistingNew York Timessports reporters will be reassigned to other departments. The decision was criticized by theNew York Times Guild,which alleged the paper was engaging inunion bustingby "outsourc[ing] union jobs on our sports desk to a non-union Times subsidiary under the preposterous argument thatThe Timescan 'subcontract' its sports coverage to itself. "[53][54]

Funding

[edit]

Investors, media executives, and reporters who don't work for the Athletic all express skepticism about the business. But almost no one will share these sentiments publicly. Who wants to be seen badmouthing one of the only places still hiring journalists? Bringing on writers for top dollar and freeing them from chasing clicks is admirable, the doubters say, but it's no way to make money.

Ira Boudway,Bloomberg BusinessWeek[9]

The Athletichas raised a total of $139.5 million over fiverounds.[55]

The first major funding was provided by Courtside Ventures, which provided $2.3 million in seed funding in Jan 2017.[56][57]In July 2017, the company raised another $5.4 million in Series A funding also led by Courtside Ventures.[58]In March 2018, the company announced a $20 million third round of funding led by Evolution Media. Mather reported that this money would be invested into expanding coverage to new cities and increasing the number of writers from the then staff of 120.[59]The Athleticraised another $40 million in a Series C funding round in October 2018, co-led byFounders FundandBedrock Capital.[60]The money will be used to invest in expanding teams focused on audience, data and editorial teams, subscriptions, podcasts and video.[61]

As of August 2019,The Athletichad 600,000 paying subscribers with an 80% retention rate year-over-year. Most of its subscribers, 60%, follow sports teams in two or more cities.[9]In September 2020,The Athleticannounced one million global subscribers, as well as expansion into additional breaking news content formats.[62]

Investigations

[edit]

The Athletichas published multiple investigations regarding workplace misconduct, sexual abuse, and other transgressions in the sports community. In 2018,Athleticjournalist Tim Cato published an in-depth report on allegations regarding workplace misconduct within theDallas Mavericksorganization.[63]The report detailed how high-ranking members within the Mavericks organization ignored and tacitly approved of financial misconduct and mental abuse.

In March 2021,The Athleticpublished an investigation regarding sexual misconduct and abuse atLouisiana State University(LSU). In the report, Brody Miller detailed the rampant sexual misconduct that was present at all levels of the LSU organization, and interviews with former players helped support an investigation conducted by law firm Husch Blackwell.[64]

In September 2021,The Athleticreleased a report detailing the gross sexual misconduct of association football coachPaul Rileyin theNWSL.The report detailed Riley's sexual abuse of several players, namelySinead FarrellyandMeleana Shim,as well as an unnamed additional player, while coaching atPortland Thorns FC.The report also revealed that the allegations, first reported to the club in 2016, were partially responsible for the decision not to renew his contract in Portland. Riley, however, immediately assumed a new coaching position within the NWSL. The NWSL, and Riley'scurrent team,responded with no comment. Paul Riley denied all allegations.[65]Riley was fired shortly afterward, and the relevant soccer bodies (NWSL,FIFAand theUnited States Soccer Federation) launched investigations.

References

[edit]
  1. ^"A note to our subscribers from the founders of The Athletic".
  2. ^Draper, Kevin (23 October 2017)."Why The Athletic Wants to Pillage Newspapers".The New York Times.Retrieved25 October2017.
  3. ^Gardner, Steve (July 10, 2023)."New York Times dissolves sports department in favor of coverage from The Athletic".USA TODAY.
  4. ^"Cities".The Athletic.RetrievedJuly 27,2024.
  5. ^Mather, Alex; Hansmann, Adam (January 30, 2018)."Playing the long game".The Athletic.RetrievedJuly 27,2024.We founded The Athletic with this simple mission: produce smarter coverage for die-hard fans.
  6. ^Mirtle, James (January 31, 2018)."Why The Athletic has a paywall".The Athletic.RetrievedJuly 27,2024.
  7. ^Biasotti, Tony (October 11, 2017)."Fast-growing startup aims to 'replace the sports page'".Columbia Journalism Review.
  8. ^Draper, Kevin (2017-10-23)."Why The Athletic Wants to Pillage Newspapers".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2019-01-27.
  9. ^abcBoudway, Ira (August 20, 2019)."The Sports News Site Haters Love to Dunk on Keeps Signing Up Subscribers".Bloomberg BusinessWeek.RetrievedAugust 21,2019.
  10. ^"The Athletic gives diehard sports fans high-quality content without the ads".Y Combinator. July 11, 2016.
  11. ^"Welcome Chicago, to The Athletic".The Athletic.January 22, 2016.RetrievedJuly 27,2024.
  12. ^@mirtle (23 November 2016)."Excited to announce that I've been hired as editor-in-chief with @TheAthleticTO, a great new startup site in Toronto"(Tweet) – viaTwitter.
  13. ^Kleps, Kevin (February 17, 2017)."The Athletic soon will launch a Cleveland site featuring Jason Lloyd".Crain's Cleveland Business.Archived fromthe originalon February 28, 2018.
  14. ^Shea, Bill (September 24, 2017)."The Athletic: Paywall sports journalism plants its flag in Detroit".Crain's Detroit Business.Archived fromthe originalon September 28, 2017.
  15. ^"The Athletic's Expansion Features Some Big Names In Sportswriting".UPROXX.August 1, 2017.RetrievedJanuary 27,2019.
  16. ^"Interview: Tim Kawakami on leaving The Mercury News and joining The Athletic".Bay Area Sports Guy.Archived fromthe originalon April 12, 2020.RetrievedAugust 24,2017.
  17. ^Rosenthal, Ken (August 23, 2017)."Ken Rosenthal: Why I'm joining The Athletic".The Athletic.RetrievedJuly 27,2024.
  18. ^"Fox Sports eliminates digital writing staff in favor of promoting their debate shows".Awful Announcing.June 26, 2017.
  19. ^"Behind The Athletic's plans to grow local sports news subscriptions".Digiday.August 29, 2017.RetrievedJanuary 27,2019.
  20. ^"Big Names in Sportswriting Are Joining The Athletic".The Big Lead.July 13, 2017.RetrievedJanuary 27,2019.
  21. ^"Introducing The Athletic Canada, our national expansion..."The Athletic.RetrievedJuly 27,2024.
  22. ^"The Athletic is expanding to New York City, Dallas, and Cincinnati".Awful Announcing.2018-02-01.RetrievedFebruary 8,2018.
  23. ^Putterman, Alex (February 12, 2018)."The Athletic launches even more local sites, seems to be going all-in on baseball".Awful Announcing.
  24. ^Schram, Carol (March 8, 2018)."The Athletic Will Keep Growing With The Help Of $20 Million In New Funding".Forbes.com.
  25. ^Rosenthal, Ken."Rosenthal: Welcome to our expanded coverage of major league..."The Athletic.RetrievedJuly 27,2024.
  26. ^Putterman, Alex (2018-03-28)."The Athletic launches coverage in Denver, Seattle, and Tampa, making clear it wants to be everywhere".Awful Announcing.
  27. ^Roberts, Michael (March 27, 2018)."Post Broncos Writer Joins Site She Saw as Trying to Destroy Newspapers".Westword.
  28. ^Finn, Chad (March 29, 2018)."The Athletic is filling out its Boston roster".Boston.com.RetrievedApril 4,2018.
  29. ^"The All-New All-American".The Athletic.RetrievedJuly 27,2024.
  30. ^Quraishi, George (May 17, 2018)."Goooaaaalllll! Announcing The Athletic's soccer coverage".The Athletic.
  31. ^"The Athletic is expanding once again, with increased coverage in Los Angeles, Dallas, Buffalo".Awful Announcing. June 18, 2018.
  32. ^Ploetz, Elmer (June 19, 2018)."News, Etc.: Enter The Athletic Buffalo".The Public.RetrievedJune 22,2018.
  33. ^"The Athletic adds 19 college football writers, expands into Atlanta, Baltimore, and Wisconsin".Awful Announcing.2018-07-17.Retrieved2019-01-27.
  34. ^Cosentino, Dom (20 August 2018)."Holy Shit, The Athletic Just Swiped A Bunch Of NFL Beat Writers".Deadspin.Retrieved2019-01-27.
  35. ^"NBA Insider Shams Charania Tells Us Why He's Leaving Yahoo for The Athletic & Stadium".Complex.Retrieved2019-01-27.
  36. ^Zucker, Joseph."Jay Glazer Joins The Athletic; Will 'Call Bulls--t in a Way Others Can't'".Bleacher Report.RetrievedJanuary 27,2019.
  37. ^Ourand, John (November 19, 2018)."The Athletic signs television vets to boost video content".Sports Business Journal.RetrievedJanuary 27,2019.
  38. ^Gluck, Jeff (May 22, 2019)."Jeff Gluck: We're here to give you stories about motorsports that you won't find elsewhere".The Athletic.RetrievedJuly 27,2024.
  39. ^Malyon, Ed (August 5, 2019)."Why The Athletic has a paywall and why you should subscribe".The Athletic.RetrievedJuly 27,2024.
  40. ^Kay-Jelski, Alex (August 5, 2019)."What to expect from The Athletic UK".The Athletic.RetrievedJuly 27,2024.
  41. ^"Leadership Changes in The Athletic's U.K. Newsroom".
  42. ^"Michael Cox".
  43. ^"Oliver Kay".
  44. ^"David Ornstein".
  45. ^"Daniel Taylor".
  46. ^Fischer, Sara (May 25, 2021)."Scoop: New York Times in talks to buy The Athletic".Axios.RetrievedJune 26,2021.
  47. ^Mullin, Benjamin (May 6, 2021)."The Athletic Halts Merger Talks With Axios, Eyes New York Times".The Wall Street Journal.Archived fromthe originalon May 6, 2021.RetrievedJune 26,2021.
  48. ^Berr, Jonathan."'New York Times','The Athletic' End Buyout Talks ".Forbes.RetrievedJuly 30,2021.
  49. ^Jones, Rory (November 2, 2021)."Report: FanDuel and DraftKings make bids for The Athletic".SportsProMedia.
  50. ^Toonkel, Jessica (6 January 2022)."NYT To Buy The Athletic for $550 Million".The Information.
  51. ^"The Athletic, owned by The New York Times, announces layoffs to nearly 4% of newsroom".USA Today.June 12, 2023.RetrievedJuly 12,2023.
  52. ^Robertson, Katie (2023-06-12)."The Athletic Cuts Nearly 4% of Its Newsroom".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Retrieved2023-07-12.
  53. ^Bruell, Alexandra (July 10, 2023)."New York Times to Close Sports Desk, Rely on the Athletic for Daily Coverage".Wall Street Journal.ISSN0099-9660.Archived fromthe originalon July 10, 2023.RetrievedJuly 12,2023.
  54. ^Reilly, Liam (2023-07-10)."The New York Times will shut down its sports desk and shift coverage to The Athletic".CNN Business.Retrieved2023-07-12.
  55. ^Fischer, Sara (2020-01-21)."Exclusive: The Athletic raises $50 million".Axios.Retrieved2023-03-25.
  56. ^"The Athletic Raises $2.3M in Seed Funding".FinSMEs.January 9, 2017.Archivedfrom the original on Dec 1, 2022.
  57. ^Heitner, Darren (January 10, 2017)."Why $2.1 Million Was Invested In A Sports News Subscription Site".Forbes.Archivedfrom the original on Apr 12, 2020.Retrieved2019-01-27.
  58. ^Schmidt, Christine (July 25, 2017)."The Athletic, that local sports startup with no advertising, raises $5.4 million and scoops up Sports Illustrated's former top editor".Nieman Lab.Retrieved2019-01-27.
  59. ^Mullin, Benjamin (2018-03-05)."The Athletic Raises $20 Million to Fund Expansion".The Wall Street Journal.ISSN0099-9660.Retrieved2018-03-20.
  60. ^Fischer, Sara (30 October 2018)."Exclusive: The Athletic raises $40 million in new funding round".Axios.Archivedfrom the original on 2019-01-28.Retrieved2019-01-27.
  61. ^Goldsmith, Jill (Oct 30, 2018)."The Athletic Raises $40M In Fresh Cash".Forbes.Archivedfrom the original on April 12, 2020.RetrievedJanuary 27,2019.
  62. ^Sherman, Alex (2020-09-09)."The Athletic say it hits 1 million subscribers after surviving sports shutdown".CNBC.Retrieved2020-09-21.
  63. ^Cato, Tim."Everything the Dallas Mavericks investigation revealed about workplace misconduct".The Athletic.Retrieved2021-09-30.
  64. ^Miller, Brody."Systemic issues in LSU's reporting of sexual misconduct and abuse: Investigation".The Athletic.Retrieved2021-09-30.
  65. ^Linehan, Meg."'This guy has a pattern': Amid institutional failure, former NWSL players accuse prominent coach of sexual coercion ".The Athletic.Retrieved2021-09-30.
[edit]
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