The Athletic keeps growing .......

boundforboston · Mar 7, 2018

SoloFlyer said: ↑

When a company doesn't advertise open positions, it runs the risk of drawing from a severely limited pool of known applicants. I think the NABJ has a legitimate gripe.

I also wonder how The Athletic isn't running afoul of EEO practices. All but one of the currently advertised jobs could be considered behind the scenes or tech positions (The Athletic Media Company). Yet we all know they're hiring in multiple cities in the next month or so.

There's this from the EEOC: "For example, an employer's reliance on word-of-mouth recruitment by its mostly Hispanic work force may violate the law if the result is that almost all new hires are Hispanic."
Prohibited Practices

I like The Athletic's content. But there may be a significant issue here in how they're expanding and hiring for those positions.
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How many positions were actually posted? I remember the Detroit Lions one, but that’s about it.

playthrough · Mar 7, 2018

thizzellewashington said: ↑

In their minds, the only way they'll be successful is if they hire people who were already successful/established on a beat and hope that their existing audience follows them. Whether that's true, remains to be seen. But notice that only in a few cases they've hired someone lesser-known or even just someone established but from a different market. My guess is they only do that when they go after the big names in a market and strike out.
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If any of us were starting a site like this, and we had the money to do it, we'd be insane to not hire the same way. The first goal is survival. I don't know if that runs afoul of EEO practices or not, all I'd know is that if my site doesn't get past the incubation period, it won't have the opportunity to strive for greater diversity or take a chance on lesser-known/young writers or whathaveyou.

The site got my attention -- and my money -- when I found out that it hired Rosecrans to cover the Reds. Not just that it was covering the Reds.

Alma · Mar 7, 2018

boundforboston said: ↑

How many positions were actually posted? I remember the Detroit Lions one, but that’s about it.
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Virtually none of them. I don't recall them being posted for The Ringer or Grantland, either. At least not very often. That's how you end up getting one or two people's idea of cool.

That said, ESPN has entire site, The Undefeated, that probably hired away some of the qualified candidates for The Athletic.

SoloFlyer · Mar 7, 2018

boundforboston said: ↑

How many positions were actually posted? I remember the Detroit Lions one, but that’s about it.
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That might be the only one. None of the new sites have had jobs posted in advance. At first, I brushed it off as them keeping things quiet because it's easy for something to fall apart. If they want to launch in Buffalo or something like that and they have a notable name in the works, only for that person to back out, it could cause problems.

But now they're practically announcing where they're expanding ahead of time. Their plans for expansion are pretty clear. So there's no excuse.

SoloFlyer · Mar 7, 2018

playthrough said: ↑

If any of us were starting a site like this, and we had the money to do it, we'd be insane to not hire the same way. The first goal is survival. I don't know if that runs afoul of EEO practices or not, all I'd know is that if my site doesn't get past the incubation period, it won't have the opportunity to strive for greater diversity or take a chance on lesser-known/young writers or whathaveyou.

The site got my attention -- and my money -- when I found out that it hired Rosecrans to cover the Reds. Not just that it was covering the Reds.
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I understand your point, but I agree with it only to an extent. When they first started in Toronto and Chicago, it's one thing to be careful and hire dynamite people you know. Even through the expansio nto the Bay Area and adding some national voices.

But the excuse of survival and riding out an incubation period doesn't work for me when you're expanding to seemingly every city with a pro franchise. You're past the incubation period. You're full steam ahead. Sure, it can all fall apart and still fail. But that will be for different reasons beyond surviving the incubation period.

da man · Mar 7, 2018

SoloFlyer said: ↑

I understand your point, but I agree with it only to an extent. When they first started in Toronto and Chicago, it's one thing to be careful and hire dynamite people you know. Even through the expansio nto the Bay Area and adding some national voices.

But the excuse of survival and riding out an incubation period doesn't work for me when you're expanding to seemingly every city with a pro franchise. You're past the incubation period. You're full steam ahead. Sure, it can all fall apart and still fail. But that will be for different reasons beyond surviving the incubation period.
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Every launch is an incubation event unto itself. If you want to create an audience in whatever city, you need to make a splash by bringing in the biggest names in that city.

Ice9 · Mar 7, 2018

SoloFlyer said: ↑

I understand your point, but I agree with it only to an extent. When they first started in Toronto and Chicago, it's one thing to be careful and hire dynamite people you know. Even through the expansio nto the Bay Area and adding some national voices.

But the excuse of survival and riding out an incubation period doesn't work for me when you're expanding to seemingly every city with a pro franchise. You're past the incubation period. You're full steam ahead. Sure, it can all fall apart and still fail. But that will be for different reasons beyond surviving the incubation period.
Click to expand...

da man said: ↑

Every launch is an incubation event unto itself. If you want to create an audience in whatever city, you need to make a splash by bringing in the biggest names in that city.
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Did I miss something here? Is The Athletic a non-profit 501(c)3?

SpiritedDebate · Mar 7, 2018

This feels like Patch, Sports Journalism version.

wicked · Mar 8, 2018

Patch never hired anyone with remotely as big of a name.

Sounds like a subscription-based version of Fanhouse, with local content.

Jake_Taylor · Mar 9, 2018

wicked said: ↑

Patch never hired anyone with remotely as big of a name.

Sounds like a subscription-based version of Fanhouse, with local content.
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FanHouse published some of my stories. I can't get a response from The Athletic. Hmm, maybe The Athletic does know what its doing.

boundforboston · Mar 9, 2018

And it launched a redesigned website.

TheSportsPredictor · Mar 12, 2018

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The Athletic keeps growing .......

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