The Athletic - US sports site

[Guest]

Not sure if this is the right place for this but it seems a US sports site called The Athletic is making a big play for the UK football journalism market. Subscription-based, recruiting a few big names from the big papers as well as a host of local journalists. More info here.

 

I assume this is the opportunity that Rob Tanner left the Mercury for. Any of our American members know much about the site? Anyone interested in a subscription model for their football coverage?

 

 

Edited 18 July 2019 by Guest
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[StanSP]

Seen this on another forum. They've been around for a few years by sounds of it and as you say, they've sparked an exodus of British journalists to their site from the likes of BBC, Daily Mail & The Times to name a few.

 

Seems to be picking up pace as well with the kind of names they're getting as well.

[Poznan34]

Looks like they are big on the discounted offers to get you in. I managed to get their 4 July offer, 76% off, which works out at less than £1/month, can't go wrong with that. 

[urban.spaceman]

Isn’t this the one Tanner’s gone to?

[funkyrobot]

1 hour ago, Poznan34 said:

Looks like they are big on the discounted offers to get you in. I managed to get their 4 July offer, 76% off, which works out at less than £1/month, can't go wrong with that. 

I’m sure you’ll be able to get the ‘scoops’ free of charge still though. Mostly it’ll be bull? click bait like everyone else now reports (including the bbc these days too.) 

[Mehrez]

Bet Stringer is fuming he hasn’t been offered a job

[MarriedaLeicesterGirl]

10 hours ago, funkyrobot said:

I’m sure you’ll be able to get the ‘scoops’ free of charge still though. Mostly it’ll be bull? click bait like everyone else now reports (including the bbc these days too.) 

Actually not what The Athletic does at all. There are no ads, so no need for clicks (it's the subscription TV model -- you don't have to watch all the time, just enough to keep you from cancelling the subscription).

 

It's mostly long-form analysis bits, not "scoop"-based, and certainly not rumor-mongering -- in fact, the raids on journalists seem to have skipped over the red top publications.

 

As others have said, my guess is this is more about the US market, where Premier League fans are underserved and used to paying for their fix (even more so rugby and cricket fans).

[Voll Blau]

Being discussed in the Mercury thread, but more info here.

 

https://www.holdthefrontpage.co.uk/2019/news/more-football-journalists-leave-roles-as-new-project-gears-up-for-launch/

 

Interesting they've gone so big recruiting writers covering all Premier League clubs, not just the big ones, as well as Leeds. You'd think they'd see how covering the big clubs (which they already do on the US site) would work before such an expansion. Then again, if they've got the money (which they clearly have to tempt so many journos away from their current jobs) then maybe being so aggressive and kicking up this fuss over recruitment is an attempt to show how serious they are about providing for a UK audience too.

[funkyrobot]

43 minutes ago, MarriedaLeicesterGirl said:

Actually not what The Athletic does at all. There are no ads, so no need for clicks (it's the subscription TV model -- you don't have to watch all the time, just enough to keep you from cancelling the subscription).

 

It's mostly long-form analysis bits, not "scoop"-based, and certainly not rumor-mongering -- in fact, the raids on journalists seem to have skipped over the red top publications.

 

As others have said, my guess is this is more about the US market, where Premier League fans are underserved and used to paying for their fix (even more so rugby and cricket fans).

So they won’t discuss transfer rumours? That’s the basis of most football press during the two transfer windows. Other than that I’ll be surprised if the info is not available here for free like it currently is.

[CosbehFox]

Difficulty will be the paywall. Can it be sustained over a long length of times. Telegraph and Times do it but there’s a bigger area there for news in general

[MarriedaLeicesterGirl]

22 minutes ago, funkyrobot said:

So they won’t discuss transfer rumours? That’s the basis of most football press during the two transfer windows. Other than that I’ll be surprised if the info is not available here for free like it currently is.

This is what their "Soccer" page headlines are at the moment:

 

https://theathletic.com/soccer/

[MC Prussian]

15 minutes ago, MarriedaLeicesterGirl said:

This is what their "Soccer" page headlines are at the moment:

 

https://theathletic.com/soccer/

By the looks of it, it has the potential of going in the direction of "news nobody really needs", as I can see particular interests and more cringeworthy/fringe issues being pushed to the front page just to fill it.

 

They seemingly have the ambition of being all-encompassing. Not convinced by the writing or the layout, which comes across as rather cluttered and cheap. Doesn't bode well for the quality of coverage.

[Voll Blau]

1 hour ago, MC Prussian said:

By the looks of it, it has the potential of going in the direction of "news nobody really needs", as I can see particular interests and more cringeworthy/fringe issues being pushed to the front page just to fill it.

 

They seemingly have the ambition of being all-encompassing. Not convinced by the writing or the layout, which comes across as rather cluttered and cheap. Doesn't bode well for the quality of coverage.

On the contrary, it seems to me like they're more interested in thinking outside the box with more thoughtful writing and interesting feature ideas. They're recruiting talent because they believe them to be capable of that, not joining the race to the bottom you see elsewhere.

 

If it comes off, it'll be such a refreshing change. Football reporting often seems to be the only form of journalism where people can repeatedly get away with wholly inaccurate writing*. If the same standards applied to news reporters were applied to some football writers their editors would barely ever publish a thing they come up with.

 

*In before someone replies with "all journalists just write lies tho!!!!!" or similar.

[MC Prussian]

1 minute ago, Voll Blau said:

On the contrary, it seems to me like they're more interested in thinking outside the box with more thoughtful writing and interesting feature ideas. They're recruiting talent because they believe them to be capable of that, not joining the race to the bottom you see elsewhere.

 

If it comes off, it'll be such a refreshing change. Football reporting often seems to be the only form of journalism where people can repeatedly get away with wholly inaccurate writing*. If the same standards applied to news reporters were applied to some football writers their editors would barely ever publish a thing they come up with.

 

*In before someone replies with "all journalists just write lies tho!!!!!" or similar.

Time will tell.

 

But I think in parts we talk about the same, just see it differently. Football has become such a major industry, it's only natural that the news coverage grows alongside it. Just have my doubts about how much of it is really needed or in the end simply l'art pour l'art, coverage that tends to be rather self-congratulatory or self-absorbed.

[Rusko187]

16 hours ago, Guest said:

Not sure if this is the right place for this but it seems a US sports site called The Athletic is making a big play for the UK football journalism market. Subscription-based, recruiting a few big names from the big papers as well as a host of local journalists. More info here.

 

I assume this is the opportunity that Rob Tanner left the Mercury for. Any of our American members know much about the site? Anyone interested in a subscription model for their football coverage?

 

 

Twitters free, I'll just stick with that.

[foxile5]

I object to any corner of Football being Americanised. 

 

I know people will think it petty, but it's the small chipping away. Soon enough clubs will become franchises and the language of American sports will take over. 

 

I can't stop it but I'll be ****ed if I'm paying for it willingly. 

[Guest SO1]

That front page is horrible. "Soccer" in the US is just rich kids sport, for rich kids. $500.00+ fees for leagues. A disgrace, but then so is most of what my country 'thinks' it is.

The homogenization of everything in order to better commodify its value. Turning things to shit.

They'll never get me to watch that crap they peddle as "soccer" in the US.

Hopefully I'll still be able to get a radio signal from here so at least I can listen to real football. Words creating pictures in my mind.

Just like baseball when I was a little kid when announcers were rated by the places, colors, and emotions they could paint in your head.

Sick of the crapification of everything. If I wanted to read trade journals.......forget it.

[baldeagle]

An article or web page with soccer as its headline or banner is a no from me . 

[purpleronnie]

5 minutes ago, baldeagle said:

An article or web page with soccer as its headline or banner is a no from me . 

why?  We named it soccer not the americans.

[boots60]

25 minutes ago, purpleronnie said:

why?  We named it soccer not the americans.

I believe the word "Soccer" was first used in public school when the team sheets were posted onto the school notice board. The predominate winter sports being Rugby & Association football.

Association was shortened to "Assoc" for the purpose of the team sheet & in turn "Soccer" became the preferred term for what everyone else at that time knew as Football.

 

[Trav Le Bleu]

10 hours ago, Mehrez said:

Bet Stringer is fuming he hasn’t been offered a job

I certainly am.

[purpleronnie]

Right, so I don't understand what the problem is.

[foxile5]

2 minutes ago, boots60 said:

I believe the word "Soccer" was first used in public school when the team sheets were posted onto the school notice board. The predominate winter sports being Rugby & Association football.

Association was shortened to "Assoc" for the purpose of the team sheet & in turn "Soccer" became the preferred term for what everyone else at that time knew as Football.

 

It's not common parlance now and it's widely accepted as the American word for it, though, isn't it? 

 

**** used to be a medical term but I doubt you'd get anywhere using that argument. 

[purpleronnie]

2 minutes ago, foxile5 said:

It's not common parlance now and it's widely accepted as the American word for it, though, isn't it? 

 

**** used to be a medical term but I doubt you'd get anywhere using that argument. 

Not really, not from me anyway, sure it's not used as much in the UK, but the ROW often use it not just America.

[Detroit Blues]

Trigger warning - I am about to use the word soccer gratuitously 

 

I just want to give you some background on The Athletic, because I think the context will help you understand what is really going on in the sports journalism world. The largest american sports media company, ESPN (owned by Disney), laid off a majority of their writers dedicated to writing long form articles. ESPN did not make enough advertising money on their free articles to support the website, nor could their subscription based insider model financially support itself.

 

The Athletic was launched afterwards, as an attempt at a subscription based service for quality, long-form journalism. Many of the writers they initially hired were the ones laid off by the other media companies. The articles they write are comprehensive, and go beyond what you would normally see in a newspaper. Think of it like the "HBO" of sports journalism. 

 

The Athletic's coverage of "Soccer," up to this point, has been mostly focused on MLS and The US National Teams due to the vast majority of The Athletic's subscribers being American. They do write occasional stories on the European mega-clubs, and they cover the major international tournaments. They do not, however, provide in depth coverage about the Premier League. 

 

I think The Athletic poaching UK journalists has two implications.

1) They want to attract/retain more US subscribers that follow soccer. Most Americans that are passionate about soccer follow the Premier League, and most of them have a Premier League club that they support. 

2) The Premier League is huge around the world. They could attract new customers that do not care about American sports, but are interested in articles about the Premier League that are a cut above the typical UK newspaper.