The Athletic keeps growing .......

I think Curmudgeon was referring to Mike Sherman in the "new editor" reference.

Likewise, I don't see the Times hiring from the outside. Erlendsson was a stringer for the Times before moving to the Tribune, and I seem to recall there were some hard feelings. Cummings has made no bones about his dislike for the Times over the years, and people over there know it. Whoever replaces Smith will be on staff already; my expectation would be Mooney.

 

Ah. I see Editor and think EE, not SE. I've heard they're in a hiring freeze. Not sure whether that's written, unwritten or just common sense at this point.
Topkin probably has been there close to 30 years, but I'm still a little surprised he didn't jump. Baseball travel has to be one of the cost-cutting factors they're considering. Hockey travel would be next. But then what? The Times doesn't have close to $3M in payroll fat anymore. This is going to be ugly. I know that rings boo-hoo hollow to Trib folks, considering what happened to them.

 

You answered your Topkin question yourself. He's been there a long time. They fought to keep him when this offer came so why leave? He's probably thinking his next move will be retirement. Athletic TB is going to be an interesting litmus test for its sustainability in some markets. I don't think it's going to draw great numbers.

 

Would The Athletic ever venture into primarily college-oriented but large cities like Austin, Tucson or Columbus?

 

The Cleveland site also covers Columbus, right? Maybe Austin/San Antone and Arizona at large could work?

 

With the consolidation of The News & Observer and The Herald-Sun sports staffs, the Triangle area of North Carolina would seem to be a market that would work for The Athletic.

 

The Athletic Cleveland and Cincinnati sites use Blue Jackets and Ohio State coverage.

 

Another suggestion/complaint: shouldn’t I be able to pull up box score from game story? Although maybe issue is that there don’t appear to be any regular season baseball box scores at all?

 

I don't think they are AP subscribers, thus they would not have access to the box scores.

It doesn't bother me. I can find that in five seconds on my phone.

 

True—although I’ve been hoping that they turn it into a one-stop app.

 

I can see that. Maybe that’s their long-range plan, but for now it seems like all they care about is stuff you can’t find elsewhere. Which is a solid building strategy with limited funds.

 

Boston launched today.