The Athletic Boston now live.

soxhop411

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he Athletic, a subscription-based, venture-capital-backed sports website that launched in January 2016 with its inaugural city-specific branch in Chicago, managed to keep any plans for Boston quiet even as it quickly expanded to 18 cities over the past two years.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to confirm last month that The Athletic did indeed have plans to enter the already-saturated Boston sports market. And the process is well underway. The specific launch date isn’t certain, according to a couple of writers who are joining the site. But its lineup of writers is taking shape.

Among those who will be writing for The Athletic Boston are Fluto Shinzawa, who is leaving the Globe to become the site’s Bruins writer; Jen McCaffrey (currently Mass Live) and Chad Jennings (Boston Herald), who will cover the Red Sox; and Jay King (Mass Live), who will be the Celtics reporter. The site’s Patriots hire will be evident in the coming days.

It’s uncertain who will be the local editor of the site. The writers who have been hired have dealt with Paul Fichtenbaum, The Athletic’s national chief content officer and a former Sports Illustrated editor.
https://www.boston.com/sports/media/2018/03/29/the-athletic-boston-roster/amp?__twitter_impression=true

Jeff Howe is the rumored pats reporter as he announced today he is leaving the Boston Herald.
 

Van Everyman

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I'm of mixed feelings about the need for this. I'm a BSJ subscriber, going month to month as it's a bit of an experiment for me and not something I visit constantly. I'm less vested in having multiple publications providing reporting and opinion on Boston sports than I am for a few good ones that do it well. And I worry a bit whether even a town as nuts as Boston can support multiple subscription sites.
 

soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
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It didn't announce anything. I announced it for them. They're trying to keep it quiet until next week. Also went after Speier and Drellich among others but got nixed.
Fixed the title. I am not that shocked that Speier turned them down. Doesn’t he have a lot of autonomy at the globe? Plus his daily newsletter has been successful.
 

soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
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I'm of mixed feelings about the need for this. I'm a BSJ subscriber, going month to month as it's a bit of an experiment for me and not something I visit constantly. I'm less vested in having multiple publications providing reporting and opinion on Boston sports than I am for a few good ones that do it well. And I worry a bit whether even a town as nuts as Boston can support multiple subscription sites.

Eh. For what you pay for the athletic you get a lot. Especially if you like reading articles about teams other than Boston.
 

Spacemans Bong

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How are McCaffrey and Jennings? I've basically been waiting until the Athletic gets a Boston presence to subscribe. They've got enough strong writers in the other cities/teams I'm interested in that I'm pretty confident I'll get something out of subscribing.
 

soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
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How are McCaffrey and Jennings? I've basically been waiting until the Athletic gets a Boston presence to subscribe. They've got enough strong writers in the other cities/teams I'm interested in that I'm pretty confident I'll get something out of subscribing.
I have had no issues with McCaffrey. If you have a son/daughter who is a student you can share a student subscription.
 

soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
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Ha ha, much better! Yeah, I think Alex has a lot of say over what he writes. As he should. Not sure how involved he is with the newsletter at this point.

That’s what I thought. I don’t think Alex would have as much freedom at the athletic.
 

Harry Hooper

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Journalism start-ups with rich backers usually staff up by poaching from existing news orgs by offering higher salaries. Remember The National Sports Daily?

Goes back farther than that:

 

Jeff Van GULLY

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Jul 13, 2005
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Howe would be the only real draw for me if he were signed. I had originally hoped he would have gone to Boston Sports Journal instead of Chris Price for the Pats beat.

I have enjoyed Boston Sports Journal and will keep that subscription. From this early news, I don't see need to add The Athletic too.
 

jsinger121

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Jul 25, 2005
17,676
Outside of howe and fluto i am not bending over back to get a subscription since i have BSJ already and think they have better writers.
 

Daws213

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I wonder if Fluto will actually have to cover the Bruins now, or if the Athletic will allow him to continue being a food blog with Bruins info sprinkled in
 

NickEsasky

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Jul 24, 2001
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I like Howe, King, and McCaffrey, and it sucks that they will be behind a paywall now. Fluto barely covers the Bruins now so he's no big get for them IMHO. I still think BSJ has a better lineup though so if I lose access to some of these folks I can live with it.
 

TheRealness

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Feb 8, 2006
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I like Howe, King, and McCaffrey, and it sucks that they will be behind a paywall now. Fluto barely covers the Bruins now so he's no big get for them IMHO. I still think BSJ has a better lineup though so if I lose access to some of these folks I can live with it.
My first reaction was whether The Athletic was expanding to include a foodie section. Joey Mac is much better as BSJ. Maybe the new guy at the globe will give a crap about the team again.
 

cshea

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I’ve been an Athletic subsriber since the beginning of hockey season so I’m glad they’ll have a Boston section now. I subscribed then because I think they have the best hockey staff and content out there. The MLB section has really built up headed into this season too, though I haven’t puked around their basketball or football sections much. I went with them over BSJ because of the added nation content and access to the city/team specific sites. I found myself only really reading McDonald, and as much as I like him, I found myself spending more time on the Athletic.

As for Fluto- I’m in the minority, but I like his hockey writing. The detours to foodie land on a playoff game day or whenever were frustrating because I do think his hockey writing is among the best in the city and always wanted more of it.
 

Rich Garces Belly

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Jun 14, 2009
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Probably a dumb question but do you sign up for The Athletic Boston or do you get access to all of the national stuff as well?
 

dano7594

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Jul 15, 2005
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Yes you receive all content. You can try it free for a week. I did that and cancelled. They then let me try it for 30 more days. I subscribe now. They always offer discounts, so do not pay full price.
 

JimD

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Nov 29, 2001
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If I subscribe to the Athletic it would likely be for the national content. If they had landed Alex Speier that would have been different but none of the Boston writers listed are enough to open my wallet. BSJ has been really solid overall and Sean McAdam in particular has been great so far this season - he has put out a ton of content throughout spring training and into the season.
 

JimBoSox9

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Nov 1, 2005
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I didn't see his name in the first articles, but Gammons just posted that he's shutting down gammonsdaily.com to join the Atlantic.

I cannot duly express my appreciation for those who followed Gammons Daily. It was fun for me, allowed me to express what was on my mind, and the site was extraordinarily managed by Rafe Anderson and Cory DiBenedetto.

But now the opportunity to join and write for The Athletic, rejoining some of my longtime friends and associates such as Jayson Stark and Ken Rosenthal, has brought me to the point where it is difficult to find enough hours in the days and weeks to do MLB Network, work on an extended career writing books, writing for The Athletic and maintain Gammons Daily.

Thus, this is a farewell, a difficult as it is. I will miss this audience, and the freedom of expression that TruMedia Networks afforded me. I hope you will become familiar with The Athletic, and never stop devouring whatever baseball thought is available.

Thank you, Peter Gammons
http://www.gammonsdaily.com/thank-you-a-farewell-to-gammons-daily/
 

cshea

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They all announced it today. Site launches the 10th.

Edit: and they have a 30% off promo for new subscribers.

 

JCizzle

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Dec 11, 2006
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damn, half of what greg bedard's venture costs
gonna be tough for him to survive this
They are cheap enough that buying both shouldn't break the bank for anyone. I'll probably get the athletic for Jay King, I like his stuff and it's worth supporting.
 

JimD

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Nov 29, 2001
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I just subscribed to The Athletic using a 40% off discount code that Jayson Stark promoted on Twitter.

I'm now subscribed to both sites - six bucks a month total is pretty reasonable for one year, and I'll see who earns my renewal.

 

JoePoulson

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Feb 28, 2006
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I subscribed as well, got me that sweet shirt. Def worth a year trial at this price and I dig the layout of the site and the app. The live scores are gravy, plus I really like how the box scores look on the app. Very pleasing to the eyes.
 

Rich Garces Belly

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I signed up with a Facebook ad for 50% off, very impressed with the NFL draft coverage already. Is there a deal for BSJ?
 

Ale Xander

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This is worth it just for Jenny Mac and Britton. Gammons and Stark puts it over the edge easy choice.
 

JimD

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To be honest, Peter Gammons hasn't been in my regular rotation of baseball writers I've followed for some time now. He just seemed to lose his fastball and I found his columns increasingly hard to read. Now that I've subscribed to The Athletic I'll likely check out his pieces if they catch my eye, but Stark and Rosenthal are much bigger draws IMO.
 

JimD

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Good stuff so far but that's expected leading up to the launch day. Interested to see how high they set the bar when they have to produce high-quality content day in and day out.
 

shlincoln

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Nov 16, 2009
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The Eno Sarris piece on Price's pitch selection that went up today is excellent.
 
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JimD

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Nov 29, 2001
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So, is The Athletic intending to truly become the new 'sports page' for the digital world? Last night was the first really big night in the Boston sports world with this site and BSJ going head-to-head covering the start of the B's quest for the Cup and night 3 of Sox-Yanks (after a heated game the night before, no less). Checking in on both sites with my morning coffee, I get:

The Athletic - one B's piece by Fluto (plus a few more from the Toronto page), one Sox piece by McCaffrey

BSJ - one B's piece by McDonald and two (!) by Bedard, plus three videos; one Sox piece by McAdam

Round one to BSJ. I'm really surprised that The Athletic didn't hit the Bruins coverage harder to make a bigger early splash.
 

TheRooster

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Aug 3, 2001
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Am I wrong to be rooting for this to fail? I can't imagine there are enough subscription dollars to support this and BSJ and I like the value BSJ has been delivering.
 

dano7594

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Jul 15, 2005
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Curious as to why you would root for failure? Unless you enjoy ESPN, and if people do that's fine. There are currently no adds, no clickbait headlines, no sitting there waiting for a page to load as the pre-roll video is loading.

As far as a payment site, people paid for newspapers forever, as long as the price is reasonable and value is delivered I am happy.

I subscribe to both BSJ, and The Athletic.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Jan 23, 2009
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Am I wrong to be rooting for this to fail? I can't imagine there are enough subscription dollars to support this and BSJ and I like the value BSJ has been delivering.
Why root for it to fail? I very much doubt it is going to be an either/or thing, as in if the Athletic succeeds, BSJ will fail or vice versa. Seems to me that if there's not enough money in the market to support two of these ventures, there's not enough in the market to support one. $85 for a year's subscription to both isn't much at all, especially when compared to an annual subscription to something like the Boston Globe, which runs about $350 just for online access.
 

John Marzano Olympic Hero

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Apr 12, 2001
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Am I wrong to be rooting for this to fail? I can't imagine there are enough subscription dollars to support this and BSJ and I like the value BSJ has been delivering.
Why would you root for this to fail? Pepsi and Coke share a market. There are a bunch of streaming options for movies, TV and music. Playstation and xBox are both around. Unless you work for BSJ, this is a very odd take to have. Especially considering you're essentially rooting for people to lose their jobs.

That's pretty shitty.
 

Rich Garces Belly

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Jun 14, 2009
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I asked this before and didn’t get an answer.

I signed up for the Atlantic as I got a 50% off deal, does BSJ do deals like that? Does BSJ have an app?
 

rmurph3

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Nov 28, 2003
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Yes, BSJ has an app. I can't speak to discount offers. But rather than worrying about discount percentages from what seems to be basically a fictional starting price on the Athletic's site (they have discount offers all over the place), when you compare actual prices you're going to pay, BSJ comes out favorably... particularly if you're only interested in Boston sports. If you want the Athletic's national coverage/stable of writers like Rosenthal, Sarris, etc., that's a different discussion.
 

brs3

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I signed up with the discount, and have really enjoyed it so far. I can't think of any reason to root for this to fail. Caple, Gammons, Stark, they're easy reads for me. So far I'm enjoying the other writers I don't know.
 

richgedman'sghost

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RI Rooter..Why would you root for one to fail? Personally I would like both to be successful... I like the Athletic myself ...
 

TheRooster

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Aug 3, 2001
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To clarify: I'm worried that the Athletic could put BSJ out of business. I was worried about that before given 5-10k subscribers and Bedard's roster of writers. Lots of people will pick one over the other.
 

VBSoxFan

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Aug 8, 2005
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I didn't see this posted anywhere else but Tim Britton posted this last Sunday, the fifth anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing. Its about the Red Sox role in the healing of the city in the weeks afterwards in the words of the players, coaches and executives as well as some players from opposing teams.

I am a subscriber but this should be available to non-subscribers as well.

https://theathletic.com/314477/2018/04/15/britton-how-the-red-sox-helped-heal-boston-in-wake-of-the-marathon-attack/