The Athletic sells to the New York Times
- Thread starter InstaFace
- Start date
The Athletics NHL TV broadcast poll is out today and I voted. I can't imagine the results will be any different than they were last year, or the year before.
https://theathletic.com/4525493/2023/05/17/nhl-team-broadcast-vote/
https://theathletic.com/4525493/2023/05/17/nhl-team-broadcast-vote/
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/12/business/media/the-athletic-layoffs.html
Layoffs and a coverage switch to more general vs. local.... so basically going from what made the Athletic unique to "wanna pay for the same thing most places have for free?"
Layoffs and a coverage switch to more general vs. local.... so basically going from what made the Athletic unique to "wanna pay for the same thing most places have for free?"
I don’t think it’s a catastrophe if a national publication doesn’t have beat reporters covering, say, the Kansas City Royals or the Nashville Predators.
I thought this WaPo article did a better job laying out the reasons for the change. Of course more coverage is always better from a reader’s perspective, but it seems like they are taking a balanced approach.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/06/12/athletic-layoffs-new-york-times/
A few months back I went to cancel my reoccurring subscription to The Athletic; set to autorenewal in August, so was cancelling the autorenewal. When I did they offered me a dirt cheap renewal rate and also threw in the NY TIMES games as part of it. I now do - or try to - the NY TIMES crosswords (includes that, Wordle, Sudoku etc.) on top on a daily basis etc. I use that more then I read The Athletic.
Some of them have already posted on Twitter. These are the ones I've seen so far...
View: https://twitter.com/Bill_Shea19/status/1668290501798133762
View: https://twitter.com/ZHBuchanan/status/1668304787719467008
Here’s a comprehensive list: http://amp.awfulannouncing.com/athletic/new-york-times-announces-layoffs-coverage-shift.html
Some others:
Bob Kravitz, Daniel Kaplan, Bob Sturm.
Some others:
Bob Kravitz, Daniel Kaplan, Bob Sturm.
There is no joy in seeing people lose their jobs but Kravitz' departure evokes no sympathy either. What that person does wasn't journalism.
The Athletic Becomes NYT Sports Dept (gift link)
Over the weekend, the WSJ had a story on Athletic-NYT (gift link)
Over the weekend, the WSJ had a story on Athletic-NYT (gift link)
Interesting. There’s certainly significant overlap between the two, but I guess I don’t full understand how the print copy of the NYT sports section is going to function.
They don’t really go into details, but The Athletic stuff doesn’t really strike me as broadly national news. It’s best stuff is specific and detailed and not really in a newspaper format.
In a related development, the LA times has removed game accounts, standings, and box scores from its print and e-editions. The sports section is all magazine type pieces, starting yesterday. And I can't find the sports on tv grid.
High school me quoted Red Smith in a cover letter for a local newspaper looking for someone to cover HS sports.
This isn't really any different - the Times doesn't do many game stories or day-to-day beat coverage as-is. With this move, that'll increase exponentially. What I'm unsure of is how the non-Sports desks will cover the typical sports stories the NYT staff the last few months has covered.
FWIW the LA Times just announced it's no longer doing game stories and moving the sports deadline up to mid-afternoon.
It seems obvious that some game stories all over the place are being written entirely or heavily assisted by AI. The Athletic has what I consider to be good Jets reporting but it’s never about game stuff.
Read something yesterday where the NYT acquiring the Athletic gave them the option of removing their own sports department and now will "provide" their sports coverage via the Athletic yet the A's employees aren't eligible to be members of the NYT's union. Kind of shady.
SoSH favorite Bob Kravitz isn’t taking his layoff well:
View: https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1682111658599096320?s=46&t=4DK5sD-8gsSKFExcsnEJqg
View: https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1682111658599096320?s=46&t=4DK5sD-8gsSKFExcsnEJqg
Admittedly, I have not read through the entire thread, but I thought I read earlier that it wa the other way around...the NYT sold their sports coverage license to The Athletic.
I had been seeing ads pop up for $2/month (billed monthly, cancel anytime) for up to 12 months recently. Not sure if that's still available.
Question: if you subscribe to the NYT, do you get access to the Athletic (and vice versa)?
Because I subscribe to the Athletic and my wife subscribes to the Times and I feel like I may be paying twice for the same thing.
Because I subscribe to the Athletic and my wife subscribes to the Times and I feel like I may be paying twice for the same thing.
No, it's an add-on, like NYT Cooking or their other special sections. (it's an extra $2/week, billed as $8/4 weeks.)
I think so. I it get it thru a university and think athletic is included. Games is not.
edit: actually I just looked and I think my uni account buys all so it’s probably tiered for individuals
FWIW, if you are an old man and get home delivery, you get all the add-ons for free.
I was on on 1.99 a month and went up to 4.99 a month. I went to cancel and see would come up for Black Friday. They offered me 9.99 for the year so took that.
Huh, I had no idea how I had it. Turns out I have “All Access”, which includes games, cooking, and the Athletic. It was $20(!) a month, but when I went to cancel it, they gave me a year of All Access at $1 a week.
Yes, I saw that's the current deal, but it jumps to $25/month when the promotion ends in a year.
And I'll be unsubscribing again. By that time I will have probably done every Sat and Sun crossword for the past 30 years.
I would pay $25 a month if they gave me the damn acrostic back.
That's the point I am at. I had canceled and took the one year discounted rate. Guess the only Black Friday deal is going in at $2/mo for a year
When I cancel it immediately offers me a new deal for $2 a month each time or I just wait till the next deal which is never more than a month away
You talked me into it. I used to get WSJ daily (it’s cheap for academics). But I cancelled as they piled up some days. But now I’m back in NYT Saturday Sunday. My 12 year old mentioned he liked to read some of the old newspapers so I figure this is good to have around. I do occasionally make him read me stories from other periodicals so we will give this a shot.