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The Athletic ... any thoughts ...

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by icoverbucks, Apr 18, 2017.

Page 4 of 19
  1. Steak Snabler

    Steak Snabler Well-Known Member

    Stewart Mandel is going to head up a college football site for The Athletic:

     
    Steak Snabler, Jul 24, 2017
    #37
  2. cjericho

    cjericho Well-Known Member

    So that's the solution? Thought it was getting better advertising people?
     
    cjericho, Jul 24, 2017
    #38
  3. typefitter

    typefitter Well-Known Member

    I sort of default to a "Is it a place paying writers to write? Then good" position. My understanding is that they don't plan on offering standard team coverage. I don't think they do game stories, for instance. I think the idea is to offer more feature-based analysis. The tough thing is that different sports lend themselves to that better than others. There is also a limit in the number of cities that could sustain a local sports site. Maybe a dozen in the US, ultimately? So the potential for future growth has a built-in ceiling. But I can see a nice network of sites growing up over time, and like I said, if they're paying even a few dozen writers to write rather than pivot to video or whatever that fucking nonsense is, then I hope they succeed.
     
    typefitter, Jul 24, 2017
    #39
  4. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    So much, in my mind, depends on what they can offer that a reader can't get elsewhere for free.

    Let's take this college football thing, for example. I love Stewart Mandel (though he was gone from SI before I started). He's excellent and I'm sure the staff he puts together will be strong.

    But do I want to pay for them when I can get Staples, Feldman and Niesen for free at SI, the ESPN crew for free there, the strong Yahoo crew (that now includes Pete Thamel) for free? Are they going to be better than that collective, plus all the local sites that are also available - for free?

    I'm a bad example. I'll probably cough up the 5.99 to support them but will the average reader?
     
    Moderator1, Jul 24, 2017
    #40
  5. silvercharm

    silvercharm Member

    I think it's going to be extremely tough to pull this off nationally. Absolutely can see a profitable sports sub site on a local level, but the college football competition you mentioned, and more, will make it difficult to pull this off as a profitable venture. Rooting for this to succeed, but unless there is unique content, I can't see it.
     
    silvercharm, Jul 24, 2017
    #41
  6. boundforboston

    boundforboston Well-Known Member

    And more...







     
    boundforboston, Jul 24, 2017
    #42
  7. boundforboston

    boundforboston Well-Known Member

    How long will you be able to read these people for free, whether it's because those sites go to subscription or some of those writers are laid off?
     
    boundforboston, Jul 24, 2017
    #43
  8. Sly

    Sly Active Member

    Think you guys are missing the larger strategy: These guys will be covering the national beats for the Chicagoans, Torontonians, Clevelanders, etc who pay for their subscriptions. No different than the national beat guys most local papers used to be able to afford.

    The Athletic has a fantastic app, too, so to get these guys PLUS your local sports coverage, is a pretty good proposition for $40.
     
    Sly, Jul 24, 2017
    #44
  9. Moderator1

    Moderator1 Moderator Staff Member

    Who knows? I suspect it will be a while. SI just added Bruce, Yahoo just added Pete and I don't think Forde and Wetzel are going anywhere. We'll cross that bridge when we get there, I guess.

    Like I said, I'll support The Atlantic. I have friends and people I greatly respect there. But will the public when there's so much quality content available (at least for now) for free?
     
    Moderator1, Jul 24, 2017
    #45
  10. MeanGreenATO

    MeanGreenATO Well-Known Member

    The biggest thing about the Athletic is that it's getting people to shift the mindset that written online content is worth paying for. Once more people start to see it that way, the more likely newspapers and other outlets will get people to pay for online subscriptions.
     
    MeanGreenATO, Jul 24, 2017
    #46
  11. nickp

    nickp Active Member

    Patiently waits for The Athletic to expand to DC
     
    nickp, Jul 24, 2017
    #47
    Jake_Taylor likes this.
  12. Elliotte Friedman

    Elliotte Friedman Moderator Staff Member

    I haven't read that Bloomberg story yet...but there were reports today Philadelphia is next.
     
    Elliotte Friedman, Jul 24, 2017
    #48
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