Does anyone else subscribe to the Athletic? They are starting to do some national stuff but the local coverage they do is great. I know people hate paying for online content but I highly suggest subscribing if your city gets local coverage.
I don't foresee their business model lasting unless they make an aggressive push into video and audio. The idea of paying for written sports content is dying.
I ordinarily despise white cleats, but I've always appreciated their crisp whites with the white spikes.
The Athletic is adding a new platform called Ink which will specialize in editorials and Longform articles. Ken Rosenthal is apparently on board to write exclusively for the brand. MG2
Just now seeing this thread. Have been subscribed to their Chicago site since beginning of the year. Seems like it will be high brow sports content.
Are they going to have national NFL, NBA, MLB sites too? Like the college football and basketball ones.
The writing on the Det site has been very good. IDGAF about the Red Wings, and that appears to be like half their current content, but I'm expecting to like it better during the football season.
I like the model. It has proven to be successful on a college level. I think it can be successful. I believe I read that they need 8-10K subscribers per market to be profitable without advertising. I know they don't plan on advertising, but minimal limited ads would help them generate some cash without becoming overbearing like sports radio. If there was a city that I followed multiply teams in then I would consider subscribing, but Charlotte doesn't have enough teams and I only care about the Panthers. Not really a national follower of any sport enough to pay for content outside soccer.
They posted what I believe is a list of total subscribers per market the other day: US markets: Canadian markets:
If those numbers are accurate then the site has started to take off. Here is the article from July 24th, 2017. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...site-for-local-sports-news-raises-5-8-million For publishers, the promise of the internet has been the potential for immediate global reach. In theory, huge audiences can be translated into massive ad revenue. The Athletic, based in San Francisco, isn't chasing that kind of scale. Instead, it charges subscribers $40 annually for in-depth coverage of local sports in Chicago, Cleveland, Toronto and Detroit -- (it also covers the Golden State Warriors). The company says it can turn a profit in a city once it gets between 8,000 to 12,000 subscribers. It has no plans to sell advertising...The company first launched in Chicago in 2016 on the hunch that it was finally the year for the Cubs. That was the right call — the team won the World Series for the first time since 1908. The Athletic's founders spent a stretch of the season taking part in Y Combinator, the prestigious incubator for tech startups. Still, it took about eight months to get 1,000 subscribers for its Chicago coverage. When it launched in Cleveland earlier this year, it poached one of the most well-known local writers covering the Cleveland Cavaliers, and got 1,000 subscribers within 48 hours. The Athletic also set up operations in Toronto, where it found its most fertile audience among the city's hockey fans. The company says the city is its most successful market, with over 10,000 subscribers. It's also the only city where it turns a profit.
I just subbed last week when Jeremy Rutherford joined. It's NHL roster is unreal. If they can get close to that quality w other sports writers - it's a wrap. This is a cardinals based pod, but you all should listen to the first 10 min or so W Ken Rosenthal. He lays out why he decided to join The Athletic. I think most sports writers probably feel pretty much the same [/QUOTE]
Seems to be doing rather well. I was surprised by the 120 employees thing currently. Seems like they've added a massive amount of writers of late and I would have guessed it was more than that. https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-athletic-raises-20-million-to-fund-expansion-1520269215
I get the hire from the content aspect, Athletic doesnt really have a good sports media writer yet. But hiring a douchey sports media stenographer like Deitsch seems to deviate from the Athletic brand. Glasspiegel would have been a better hire ironically.
Sports media writers shouldn't be attached to sports media companies like SI, ESPN or The Athletic, IMO. It's a massive conflict of interest.
First piece should be an oral history on how and why that picture was taken and exists for public consumption
Sounds like Peter King could possibly join the Athletic this week. I’m not sure how likely it is but his deal at SI is up and the Athletic is after him, presumably to head it’s NFL coverage. I’m not a big King fan but that would be a hell of a coup.
Theyve feasted on SI's demise. Cant blame them. Having those personality-driven standalone sites would work well under their umbrella.
If SI keeps getting raided, maybe they will at some point consider changing to a website that doesn't lock my computer four times every time I click on a link over there.
https://theathletic.com/357844/2018...xpect-from-the-athletics-new-soccer-coverage/ finally doing the deep dive into Soccer. Paul Tenorio, Will Parchman among others.
Seth Emerson left the AJC to cover Georgia for them. He’s been pretty good since getting away from the clickbait They need podcasts though or they won’t make it.
Signed up a few weeks ago and so far I am enjoying my subscription. The site seems to be more detailed than ESPN but not quite to the level of detail of some beat writers. Good mix. Seems like it has promise for their college football coverage, so hopefully when the season starts it will continue improving. https://www.wsj.com/articles/sports-website-the-athletic-expands-aggressively-1528110000
You get access to everything but you can set up your preferences to only see specific teams or leagues.
Might join for the world cup coverage, I like Mike Goodman. Can't really stand SI with Straus and Wahl, and that awful website.
My biggest beef with the Athletic to this point is how much they all re-tweet each others' work constantly. Maybe it's just a Detroit thing, but it seems like each writer RTs every story from another writer at least a couple times. I get why they do it, but I find it annoying.
Its terrible. I often find myself not-clicking twitter links of theirs I otherwise would if (a) it was a functional website unlike SI or (b) I didnt hate Wahl's voice and constant agenda.
Seems like Pete Sampson is leaving Irish Illustrated for the Athletic. They are really getting some big name college guys to cover the beat for them.
sounds like they will pillage whats left of the AJC newspaper in Atlanta Jeff Schultz will head up Atlanta coverage
Not sure how to feel about Schultz tbh but I’ve loved having a sub for the last 2-3 months. I’ll actually read articles about teams I’ve never followed in all sports. It’s weird.