The Athletic coming to Calgary

[8sPOT]

Originally Posted by thymebalm

Hiding sports writing behind a paywall is obnoxious. Kent Wilson was worth the banner ads on FN, but certainly no sports writing team is worthy of 100/annum from me.

The best information and dialogue about the Flames has always come directly from this forum - real fans, who watch the games with their eyeballs, and are passionate about the franchise.

If the Players Tribune doesn't charge then spreadsheet bloggers should hold their horses.
Maybe I'm wrong... but I've never EVER read content on any sports site that I thought was worthy of direct payment from me. They don't even break news on those site, just filter it in from Twitter and other sites.

The current deals are much less than $100/year. I got in for $36.

[Clever_Iggy]

Originally Posted by thymebalm

I am definitely the target market.

I read a ton of Flames content online every day. And I have money to give. I've just never seen a site worthy of direct contribution from the readers. Maybe I need to have more belief in the the subscription model. If I pay for something, I want it to be able to access something new, informative, different.

What about their model is particularly different than all the free media out there right now?

You don't have to read Eric Francis.

I find the mainstream Calgary media to be the same recycled stuff. The Herald and the Sun has the same content. Everything seems so formulaic without a lot of insight. I've enjoyed the Players Tribune because it's different. I'm giving The Athletic a chance because (a) it gives me access to other cities and sports I like to follow, (b) the work (hopefully) will be better quality and (c) the app procures all the articles for me.

It's only ~$4 a month with the discount. I'm going to give it a fair shot and can cancel.

[thymebalm]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

...it's a very deep dive on Brouwer, revealing what we all more or less knew (Brouwer is bad and that it's far more likely he stays bad, or gets worse than actually turns a corner and becomes good). That Brouwer contract sure is a turd.

You mean Kent is repeating ad nauseam that he doesn't like Brouwer because of his favourite advanced metrics?

I've read that article from Kent 5 different times already since Brouwer contract.

This is what I'm talking about, I really don't believe there is new, important, interesting or relevant information that will come from the Athletic that doesn't already come from the blogging community he swam in for all those years.

https://flamesnation.ca/2016/12/29/w...-troy-brouwer/

https://flamesnation.ca/2017/08/30/w...-troy-brouwer/

https://flamesnation.ca/2017/07/09/w...und-next-year/

https://flamesnation.ca/2017/05/24/f...-troy-brouwer/

[s_procee]

They were talking about it on the Fan, apparently it will either lose steam or be bought

[JFK]

Three articles in three month about Troy Brouwer, all by the same writer. That comes across as pretty strange.

Kent is a good writer he's anything but level headed however. Dismissing anyone that disagrees with you outright always comes across as a little childish. He doesn't particularly like to be challenged.

[Red Slinger]

I don't understand why Darren Haynes doesn't get more attention for stuff like this. He's one of the best Flames bloggers around IMO.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by JFK

Dismissing anyone that disagrees with you outright always comes across as a little childish. He doesn't particularly like to be challenged.

I really don't think he does this. I'm not sure what people are referring to here.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

I really don't think he does this. I'm not sure what people are referring to here.

Me neither.

Put forward a rational fact based argument and he'll readily accept it. Unless folk are saying that because he doesn't buy into "Gritty McGritterton is great player because... grit!" type of arguments. I think some folk don't like him because he doesn't put on the homer blinders when he writes.

Originally Posted by Red Slinger

I don't understand why Darren Haynes doesn't get more attention for stuff like this. He's one of the best Flames bloggers around IMO.

Meh, I've never read anything out of Haynes that I couldn't get out of the Sun or Herald. That's not to say he's bad, he's a very decent wordsmith, just that there isn't anything extraordinary about his content.

[Freeway]

Duha and Kent were enough to get me to subscribe.

[PeteMoss]

Flames vs Oilers media in a nutshell in the first articles by veritical:
Flames - calling Brouwer a lost cause
Oilers - comparing their first round pick to Tyler Johnson and Johnny Gaudreau

[Boreal]

Originally Posted by drewtastic

The guys on FAN 960 just spoke about The Athletic with Stephen Brunt.

Brunt seemed unsure of the longevity of such ventures. While wishing them success, his argument seemed to be that he was uncertain that consumers would be willing to shell out cash for an online "writer's platform" over the long term. The guys all discussed the decline of newspaper sports pages as being one reason for the emergence of sites like The Athletic, but seemed to imply that there's no certainty in online journalism either.

I'm one of those luddites who still gets the Herald every morning...it's a habit I can't break. I start with the sports each day. I miss George Johnson a lot, but enjoy Kristen Odland and the beat writers for the Stamps. On Wednesdays, there's a CFL round-up that's quite good too. During the NHL season, there's usually a decent weekend sports package covering a bunch of cities' stories of interest. In the past year, the Herald eliminated then reinstated boxscores from the major N.A. leagues due to reader complaints (there still do exist many of us who like to see the baseball and hockey game scoring summaries in black and white print!)

Nevertheless, today's newspaper coverage definitely pales in comparison to even fifteen years ago, columnist and content-wise.

From that perspective, if The Athletic's focus is in part to revive some of that tradition, I wish them nothing but the best. It may finally be my incentive to switch to an online platform for reading sports news.

Fair enough, but if you listen to Morgan Campbell on the podcast I posted he mentions that media companies have essentially been giving away free tickets to content while expecting others to pay. It's like free tickets to Flames games if you print a ticket at home. The old paradigm doesn't have a future.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by s_procee

They were talking about it on the Fan, apparently it will either lose steam or be bought

Old newspaper media guys talking about what will work business wise in the future is like asking a miner to forecast the weather.

Those guys should be praying this works. The only safe sports writing jobs are guys who can transition to radio or TV. At some point the radio jobs will go away as listenership drops and Rogers/Bell realize cut costs.

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by thymebalm

You mean Kent is repeating ad nauseam that he doesn't like Brouwer because of his favourite advanced metrics?

I've read that article from Kent 5 different times already since Brouwer contract.

This is what I'm talking about, I really don't believe there is new, important, interesting or relevant information that will come from the Athletic that doesn't already come from the blogging community he swam in for all those years.

https://flamesnation.ca/2016/12/29/w...-troy-brouwer/

https://flamesnation.ca/2017/08/30/w...-troy-brouwer/

https://flamesnation.ca/2017/07/09/w...und-next-year/

https://flamesnation.ca/2017/05/24/f...-troy-brouwer/

If your standards for sports journalism is to see new and unique articles all the time then you must be profoundly disappointed already.

I mean just look at the articles in this thread posted today:

https://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=163665

It's essentially 4 of the exact same article: "Player X ready to prove something."

Not saying that's bad necessarily but to hold one writer accountable for revisiting the same topic and ignore this practice is a fundamental part of sports journalism seems a bit self-serving.

[Resolute 14]

I like Kent, and sort of figured a while ago that he'd be a likely candidate, but honestly, there needs to also be a local writer who doesn't live and die by spreadsheets if they want any sort of mainstream appeal.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by s_procee

They were talking about it on the Fan, apparently it will either lose steam or be bought

"I can't imagine the automobile ever being more than a fad appealing to a small number of enthusiasts," said Robert Kerr, spokesman for Roger's Finest Horse Carriages.

[Tyler]

I would wager the Athletic will be lasting longer than Rob Kerr's Flames PBP career

[Reggie Dunlop]

Sounds like there's some big money behind this. As Legacy Media dwindles to mediocrity and eventually disappears, we'll see more specialty subscriber sites.

I'd also like to see them utilize local photographers. Quality sports photography enhances the story.

[Tinordi]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

I like Kent, and sort of figured a while ago that he'd be a likely candidate, but honestly, there needs to also be a local writer who doesn't live and die by spreadsheets if they want any sort of mainstream appeal.

I thought I saw him write that he would be doing analysis but that Duha would be teaming up providing access and more colour in between the lines. If so that's a good mix, strong analytical arguments with great takes from Duha.

[Resolute 14]

I don't see Duhatschek as a local guy, but more of a national guy with LeBrun. Would love to be wrong there though. Duhatschek focusing on the Flames would be worth the price of admission.

What I would look for is Kent to give the local look from the analytical view, and someone who can do it from a better 'storytelling' perspective. Also, I'm hoping to see them pay more than just lip service to the Stamps, Hitmen, Roughnecks and I don't see Kent doing that either.

He's a good start, but more is needed to flesh things out.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Also, I'm hoping to see them pay more than just lip service to the Stamps, Hitmen, Roughnecks and I don't see Kent doing that either.

No one outside of Toronto is going to do that, not for a good long while... when Mirtle introduced the Canadian expansion he gave the caveat that it was going to vastly be around hockey (at least initially).

I don't think Kent would really want to do Football/Lacrosse coverage either but I imagine that when/if AthleticCGY gets more subscribers they'll add writers to cover the Stamps (I wouldn't hold my breath for Lacrosse).