The Athletic layoffs

In some cases, maybe. Having seen more than one Gannett purge up close, though, I think most layoffs are used to get rid of higher-paid vets and replace them (if they're replaced at all) with young cats who will work for a $25K, a cell phone and a Subway gift card. For a lot of these companies, we're all just numbers.

Private equity doesn't know or care who the performers are.

 

Exactly. The bylines don't matter to the suits. Not one bit. The Athletic, however, seemed to care more than most about the byline because of those introductory columns the person wrote upon being hired by the Athletic. It seems to me the Athletic will be fine if they get contributions from investor types.

 

I never understood The Athletic's introductory columns. Many seemed to me to be fanboi or near-fanboi pronunciations of how much they loved the university they were covering, how they followed it for years, how they grew up watching it or attended and were glad to be back to bring "the best!" coverage.

IMO it reeked in many cases not so much of journalism but of a fan website with fan coverage by fan writers. Maybe that's what they wanted, though.

 

Consider the source, and Mariotti using the word "unhinged" is hilarious, but he makes a point or two here worthy of discussion.

Say a Prayer For The Athletic …And Sportswriting

 

I'm not in any way affiliated with The Athletic but I strongly disagree with a lot of Mariotti's assessment. His point that The Athletic has tried to do too much -- cover too many teams with too many people -- is sound but his alternative suggestion of hiring a lot of columnists doesn't hold water for me. You are much more likely to get say a Chicago Bulls fan or a Texas Longhorns fan to subscribe with smart beat coverage they can't get anywhere else than with a general columnist. It's notable that Mariotti can only come up with columnist names when rattling off the country's best sportswriters. He also doesn't take into account the financials of only hiring columnists who typically demand large salaries.

At The Athletic, I'd be shocked if opinion was the big driver of subscription sales there. It can certainly move the needle but you get more value from people like Ken Rosenthal, Jay Glazer, Bruce Feldman, etc. who can write columns but also provide smart, insider pieces. The Athletic has certainly made mistakes along the way and I remain convinced it'll never win certain entrenched markets like New York but Mariotti's big suggestion to their co-founders was foolish.

 

Yes, the reason they're struggling is because they didn't make enough Rick Reilly-type hires. Good call there, Jay.

 

I was referring more to the expanding-too-fast aspect, but upon further review it is much more of a shill job for himself.

 

Does anyone have a full list of who was let go? I might be able to steer some people to them.

 

I like strong opinions, but I don't think it's the best or only way to build sports coverage. You need the news and feature stories. Readers can come up with their own hot takes. They can't report out an interesting story or fill in smart analysis and breakdowns with access to coaches, scouts, front office people and athletes. And I'm not sure which opinion people move the needle in the way Mariotti describes.

 

In today's marketplace who "moves the needle" more.

Locally, the number one sports columnist or the top rated sports talk personality? I grew up in Denver and Woody Paige- love him or hate him- dominated that market for a long time but I am not sure many columnists still do. On a national level the most recognized opinions seem to be television personalities such as Smith or Bayless.

 

I opened that expecting a glorious hate-read, and it was actually...good? For every self-glorifying moment (The Athletic needs more columnists!) he was bang-on about 10 other things. They do want to be everything to everyone. Forget Larry Baer, the bigger conflict of interest is CAA's investment in the company. They did hire some writers who came off as if they were waving pompoms. He is 100% right the lack of access when/if sports resumes, and how it's going to impact the business going forward. And thank goodness someone else verbalized the Stepford Wives-ian quality of their comments section.

And these lines are a reminder Mariotti used to be a good writer:

And if it does, sportswriting dies. What’s left out there — The Ringer, partner-promoting ESPN, a few lingering papers and the charred remains of Sports Illustrated? Never has the craft felt so non-essential, and in the future, I fear that writers will be working directly for leagues and teams that want upbeat, controversy-free coverage for low pay.