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Old 06-05-2020, 02:34 PM   #1
Reggie Dunlop
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Default Big round of layoffs at The Athletic

Apparently quite a few. Sean Gordon for one. Reading 46 in total.


I imagine a number of factors at play here, the economy chief among them. I ws hoping the subscriber model for specialized content would be successful.

It's happening at other web-based news sites as well like SBNation.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1269002254796931073

Last edited by Reggie Dunlop; 06-05-2020 at 02:40 PM.
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Old 06-05-2020, 02:35 PM   #2
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Brutal. We lost Craig Morgan in AZ.
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Old 06-05-2020, 02:36 PM   #3
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Craig Morgan was one of the best, that's a real shame.
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Old 06-05-2020, 03:49 PM   #4
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It’s hard to justify a paid subscription for a sports publication unless you are in the business or otherwise making money on the industry, ie gambling, selling tickets and otherwise. I’d rather pay to read Duha and other writers as part of a Globe and Mail subscription when I really only follow one sport. I don’t even think SI has survived this recent culling.
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Old 06-05-2020, 03:58 PM   #5
Reggie Dunlop
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They must have paid crazy money to have lured so many top writers from otherwise comfortable and secure perches.

Probably didn't help when they had to pare expenses down.
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Old 06-05-2020, 05:00 PM   #6
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Have to imagine subscriptions took a big hit during COVID...


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Old 06-05-2020, 05:39 PM   #7
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They must have paid crazy money to have lured so many top writers from otherwise comfortable and secure perches.

Probably didn't help when they had to pare expenses down.
Are there any comfortable and secure jobs for writers anymore?
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Old 06-05-2020, 07:53 PM   #8
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Have to imagine subscriptions took a big hit during COVID...


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pretty much what i was thinking... it's a 'luxury' item, so i imagine lots of ppl cut it when they lost their jobs (not to mention, there is no sports to cover right now).

i think the Athletic is great, so will keep subscribing in hopes they can bounce back eventually
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Old 06-05-2020, 07:59 PM   #9
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I was about to post that the Flames coverage has been pretty light recently. With Kent Wilson leaving and Darren Haynes going silent for over two months now, it's hard to justify keeping a subscription.
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Old 06-05-2020, 08:06 PM   #10
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I'm pretty sure the Athletic put Haynes on hiatus during the break. And he's been dealing with some family issues, per his Twitter account. Of course, the second part of that is none of our business.
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Old 06-05-2020, 09:07 PM   #11
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I subscribe mainly because of their soccer content, particularly one writer (Raphael Honigstein). Their hockey content is secondary for me, although I read some of the Flames stuff during the season.

I've wondered how the increasing popularity of podcasts has impacted sites like The Athletic. So many writers and reporters now do a podcast as well. There's just so much free content out there.
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Old 06-05-2020, 09:24 PM   #12
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I subscribed for Darren Haynes primarily. I understand business is hard right now, but I'll be upset if he gets laid off while he's got something seemingly pretty serious going on. I really hope they kept him.

Is there a full list of people they've laid off anywhere? I noticed most seem to be revealing it themselves through their social media accounts.
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Old 06-05-2020, 10:04 PM   #13
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I find the hockey articles to be awfully repetitive. When I subscribed I was under the impression there would be a lot more long form in-depth articles. When it comes to hockey during the season most of the articles are just typical articles you can find anywhere. The Leafs are losing.."What is wrong with the Leafs and how can they change it?" type of articles.

I just skim through most articles now.
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Old 06-05-2020, 10:24 PM   #14
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Sara Civian remains employed, and for that I’m happy.
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Old 06-06-2020, 09:30 AM   #15
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The layoffs that the PHWA has tweeted about are:
  • Joe Yerdon (Buffalo)
  • George Richards (Florida, chapter chair)
  • Tom Reed (Columbus)
  • Craig Morgan (Arizona, chapter chair)
  • John Glennon (Nashville)
  • Ken Wiebe (Winnipeg, chapter chair)
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Old 06-06-2020, 09:50 AM   #16
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Quote:
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I subscribed for Darren Haynes primarily. I understand business is hard right now, but I'll be upset if he gets laid off while he's got something seemingly pretty serious going on. I really hope they kept him.

Is there a full list of people they've laid off anywhere? I noticed most seem to be revealing it themselves through their social media accounts.
I thought he was laid off when this started, he hasn't been writing for them since then, and only retweeting their articles.

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Old 06-06-2020, 11:04 AM   #17
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pretty much what i was thinking... it's a 'luxury' item, so i imagine lots of ppl cut it when they lost their jobs (not to mention, there is no sports to cover right now).

i think the Athletic is great, so will keep subscribing in hopes they can bounce back eventually
Yep, me too, I’m going to renew this fall.

Hopeful this is temporary with COVID, and they get back to aggressively pursuing great writers when things return to normal.
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Old 06-06-2020, 11:06 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by savemedrzaius View Post
I find the hockey articles to be awfully repetitive. When I subscribed I was under the impression there would be a lot more long form in-depth articles. When it comes to hockey during the season most of the articles are just typical articles you can find anywhere. The Leafs are losing.."What is wrong with the Leafs and how can they change it?" type of articles.

I just skim through most articles now.
I imagine that’s due to coverage saturation, with the number of writers and bloggers close to the leafs. Not the same for us out west.
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Old 06-08-2020, 07:39 AM   #19
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Kind of impressive it held off this long, under the circumstances.
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Old 06-09-2020, 08:10 AM   #20
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I'm wondering if this would be happening without COVID, or if this is just what is happening with journalism in general.

For anyone with a Netflix account, the new Patriot Act episode talks about the role local papers have and the big loss it would be if those reporters weren't around anymore - and I think we saw this happen in sports journalism pre-Athletic.

A main point of the episode is that your local issues aren't covered as well, and they point out how Epstein was uncovered by local reporting. It reminded me of how sports journalism is pretty putrid on the big networks, and we saw how little coverage the Flames got when we relied on the major platforms. Sports vs. real life, but the idea is that journalism isn't valued the same way it used to be with so much content out there.

The Athletic seemed to be well-reviewed for filling that void and from how often they were referenced... you have to think there's something there. I'd have to think that what The Athletic has brought back to sports journalism isn't under-valued by many and will be sorely missed if this is a sign.

So fingers crossed this is just a 2020 adjustment as it must be a very low subscriber rate right now. I hope The Athletic doesn't turn out to be a failed experiment, as we're left with some pretty watered-down trash again if it was. Given how fickle sports fandom can be, maybe relying on subscriptions (bad year = less subscriptions) isn't the model and they're left with salary.

I've always kinda wished for ads vs. subscription though if not just for being able to share their content. There's ways to integrate ads into your platform opposed to letting them hijack (greyscale ads, for example) so you wonder if that might be a better way for them going forward. They have the eyes now to have real conversations with advertisers.
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