THURSDAy, MARCH 5 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST eZ M2 d7
laid off more than a third of its
staff. The Athletic kept hiring,
and it now employs around
430 journalists in the United
States and the United Kingdom,
likely the largest stable of sports-
writers and editors in the indus-
try. (ESPN has around 400 com-
parable reporters and editors,
plus hundreds more who work in
TV and other parts of the news-
room.)
As a result, it can feel like the
future of a fabled profession —
the sportswriter — rests on the
shoulders of a company whose
co-founder, Alex mather, once
clumsily promised to “wait every
local paper out and let them
continuously bleed” and whose
prospects remain shrouded in
mystery.
The Athletic has raised
$140 million, is approaching
1 million subscribers and is val-
ued at about $500 million, ac-
cording to the company. But it’s
not yet profitable. It hasn’t re-
leased any revenue figures. And it
has continued to raise money,
including a recent buy-in from
actor matthew mcConaughey. In
other words, it could represent
the idyllic future of sports jour-
nalism, a venture capital-backed
mirage or something in between.
What’s certain, though, is what
the Athletic means to the profes-
sion right now. And what it would
mean if its jobs went away.
“I’m more optimistic than I
have been, but you shudder to
think about it,” said B.J. Schecter,
a former editor in chief of Sports
Illustrated and current head of
the Seton Hall sports media pro-
gram. “A ll this talent on the mar-
ket — where are they going to go?
It would be catastrophic.”
the beat writer’s demise
for most of the 20th century,
sportswriting consisted largely of
newspaper beat reporters and
columnists who traveled with
teams and pounded away on
typewriters in smoky press boxes.
The Internet democratized the
craft by the 2000s, with bloggers
churning out more relatable con-
tent, often from a fan’s perspec-
tive. (And often cribbing newspa-
pers’ original reporting.) The
newspaper industry, meanwhile,
was — and still is — being gutted
by declining ad revenue, putting
atHletIc from D1 sports journalists out of work.
The start-ups filling the void
have mostly combined fan-driven
blogging with traditional cover-
age done cheaply. SB Nation built
a sprawling network of low-paid,
part-time sportswriters. rivals
built college sports sites around
fan-driven message boards. The
new bosses at Sports Illustrated
are hiring part-time contractors
to cover pro and college teams,
betting it can grow its audience
without professional journalists.
“What we’re looking at right
now is sports journalism as a
career having a 10-year arc,” said
Jane mcmanus, director of marist
University’s sports communica-
tion center, who was laid off from
ESPN in 2017.
She stressed that she thinks
things will turn. But for now, “you
can have a job out of college
creating content for someplace,
and when you need benefits, a
better salary, you’ll have to leave
the business,” she said. “It’s a
business that’s eating its young,
that doesn’t offer young writers a
future, and that’s incredibly de-
pressing.”
Unless, that is, you believe in
the Athletic. The company is not
just a lifeline for a specific kind of
sportswriter. It’s a bet that that
same sportswriter still has value
to consumers — that even in a
world where leagues employ
their own beat writers, where
hobbyist bloggers and podcasters
flood the Internet with content,
enough fans remain who will pay
for coverage from professional
sportswriters.
flush with venture capital, the
Athletic offers those journalists
attractive salaries: $50,000 a year
for entry-level reporters and m id-
six figures for more accomplished
writers. (full-time employees get
equity in the company, t oo.) It h as
even managed to raise the sala-
ries of writers it hasn’t hired: It
offered one prominent ESPN
writer more than $500,000, near-
ly double that writer’s salary,
according to people familiar with
the negotiations; the writer ulti-
mately stayed at ESPN for less
than the Athletic’s offer but still
got a big raise.
All that venture funding brings
a Silicon Valley ethos to the com-
pany. A dashboard tracks how
stories perform against expecta-
tions, and every writer gets goals
for how many subscribers their
articles should convert. A corpo-
rate travel system spits out the
average cost of hotels and pro-
vides Amazon gift certificates to
employees who book cheaper ac-
commodations.
Aaron reiss, 24, who left the
Kansas City Star to cover the
Houston Te xans, praised another
perk: an editor who specializes in
helping develop young writers.
“What newspaper would have
that?” he asked.
“It’s this idea that you can have
a stable job and a career that
makes the Athletic so valuable, at
least psychologically,” mcmanus
said.
As a product, the Athletic is
both a disrupter and a nod to the
past. for $10 per month or
$60 per year, a subscription gives
readers access to the entire site,
which feels like a bundle of local
sports sections from a healthier
era. reporters churn out old-
school beat coverage, which isbuttressed by analysis and fea-
ture stories, plus the work of such
national experts as former fox
Sports baseball writer Ken
rosenthal and former ESPN
hockey columnist Pierre LeBrun.
All of it is available on an app and
online ad-free.
Last year, the Athletic expand-
ed overseas, hiring a team of
soccer writers to cover the Eng-
lish Premier League. It has more
than 100 podcasts and plans to
add more. And it’s landing bigger
stories every year: rosenthal,
along with Evan Drellich, broke
the Houston Astros sign-stealing
story. The scoop netted several
thousand new subscriptions,
Hansmann, the Athletic’s co-
founder, said in an interview.
“our fundamental perspective
is whenever there are layoffs
somewhere else that it’s depress-
ing,” Hansmann said. “But our
business perspective is that inter-
est in sports remains at close toan all-time high. So even as you
have everything falling apart, the
decline in the industry isn’t a bout
the demand for content.”looking for an off-ramp
With its growing subscriber
base, the Athletic already has
been more successful than early
skeptics predicted, taking advan-
tage of a fractured media envi-
ronment and effectively serving
the passions of local sports fans.
But it also has spent millions on
salaries.
Eric Jackson, founder of EmJ
Capital, a tech and media venture
capital fund, worried about the
company’s cash flow and valua-
tion.
“Usually people disclose reve-
nues when it’s good news,” he
said. “A nother thing is: Why did
they need to raise more capital?
Because they’ve spent the rest of
it and they need to keep paying
people? At a $500 million valua-
tion, they’re hoping this is going
to be like a unicorn and then
some. But it’s a media business,
and I don’t see that.”
Ultimately, though, its balance
sheet may not matter as much as
its scale, at least to the company’s
investors. As with any venture-
backed start-up, its clearest path
to success is through a sale.
There has been some momen-
tum recently for acquisitions.
Streaming audio service Spotify
paid some $200 million for Bill
Simmons’s the ringer. Gambling
operator Penn National paid
$450 million for a major stake in
Barstool Sports, the divisive
sports-media brand. But those
deals may not be useful harbin-
gers for the Athletic. In the ring-
er, Spotify saw a sprawling and
popular podcast network. In Bar-
stool, Penn National saw a rabid
audience of current and potential
sports gamblers. The Athletic
said it has no plans to pursue
gambling content or partner-
ships.
In interviews, multiple inves-
tors, along with media executives
and industry insiders, said com-
panies that value local consumers
could make interesting potential
buyers for the Athletic. Among
the companies they mentioned:
Sinclair Broadcast Group, which
just spent more than $10 billion
on more than 20 regional sports
networks; fox Sports, which
doesn’t have much of a digitalfootprint after eliminating its
writers; Comcast, which owns a
handful of regional sports net-
works; and ESPN, because it’s
ESPN.
No substantive negotiations
have taken place, a person at the
Athletic said, though some media
companies have reached out. Ac-
cording to three members of the
industry, conversations took
place with fox Sports but didn’t
advance. The Athletic declined to
comment on that, as did fox
Sports. A senior employee at
ESPN said the company had no
interest in the Athletic, particu-
larly at its current valuation.
“It’s too soon to know if it’s just
a good idea or if it’s a long-term
viable business,” one investor of
the Athletic said.
Investors and others said the
range of outcomes for the compa-
ny and its army of journalists still
varies widely, but they believe its
future hinges on a sale. If it’s
bought by a company that wants
to expand the model, the Athletic
could help stabilize the industry
for the long term. Someone else
could buy the company and cut
costs, leaving the fate of the fa-
bled beat writer uncertain again.
or the disaster version: The com-
pany can’t find a buyer near its
valuation, the capital runs out,
and the thing goes upside down.
“If the Athletic doesn’t suc-
ceed, it would have a chilling
effect because it would be a lost
bet that people will pay for high-
quality sports journalism,” said
Ken Doctor, a media analyst who
runs the website Newsonomics.
Hansmann said he appreciated
what the Athletic means to the
industry right now.
“I think as far as the pressure of
that, we don’t think about how
things might go wrong,” he said.
“obviously, we’ve built a large
company and raised outside
funding, plenty of it. We’re
stretched as founders, sure, but
we feel like we control our desti-
ny.”
for their part, writers said they
weren’t thinking too hard about
what they cannot control.
“I’m about to turn 40. I have
two kids in Catholic school,” said
Armstrong, the New orleans edi-
tor. “I could worry about those
things, but I’m just going to focus
on the fact that I have a job that I
love.”
[email protected]For better or worse, the future of sportswriting might come down to the Athletic
IAN AlleN
a dam Hansmann, left, and alex Mather, the athletic’s co-founders,
have not divulged many details about the company’s finances.but fortunately, it just got the
eyelid. It took 90 stitches to fix; a
plastic surgeon took care of it. I
don’t want to exaggerate with the
stitches because they do very
small stitches, but there were 90
of them.”
Both players were in front of
the Islanders’ net during the
third period when Lehkonen fell,
causing his legs to go into the air
and his right skate to connect
with Boychuk under the visor.
Boychuk was down on the ice
briefly before he got up and
skated off the ice with his hand
covering his face.
There is no timetable for his
return.
l FlYeRs: James van riems-
dyk broke his right hand blocking
a shot during Philadelphia’s win
over the Washington Capitals.
The winger took a shot to the
hand from Capitals defenseman
Jonas Siegenthaler during the
first period. Van riemsdyk, who
has 19 goals and 21 assists in
65 games this season, immediate-
ly went to the locker room and
did not return.
flyers Coach Alain Vigneault
confirmed the break after his
team’s w in and said he would find
out Thursday how much time van
riemsdyk will miss.
Vigneault said rookie Joel
farabee would be recalled from
the minors to replace van riems-
dyk.
l seNatORs: ottawa fired
CEo Jim Little less than two
months after he took the job,
saying his c onduct was “inconsis-
tent” with the core values of the
team and the NHL.
The 55-year-old Little said in a
statement t hat the reasons for his
dismissal were simply the result
of a heated disagreement with
owner Eugene melnyk.
“on Valentine’s Day, the owner
and I had a personal disagree-
ment over the approach that I
had been pursuing,” L ittle said. “I
am a strong-willed person, and
the disagreement included me
using some strong language with
him over the phone, including
some swearing, which he did not
appreciate and for which I later
apologized.
“It was these events, to my
knowledge, which led to my dis-
missal.”ASSOCIATED PRESST. J. Brodie scored with
10.4 seconds left in overtime, and
the host Calgary flames complet-
ed a late comeback for a 3-2 win
over the Columbus Blue Jackets
on Wednesday night.
Columbus held a two-goal lead
for most of the game after Devin
Shore and Gustav Nyquist scored
less than three minutes apart in
the first period.
Elias Lindholm finally got the
flames on the board with 8:46
left in the third period, and
matthew Tkachuk forced over-
time when he scored with 1:43
left in regulation.
The Blue Jackets were denied
in their bid to win consecutive
games for the first time since they
had a three-game winning streak
feb. 2-7. Columbus is 2-5-6 in its
past 13 games as it tries to hang
on to a wild-card spot in the
Eastern Conference.
l DUcKs 4, aValaNcHe 3
(Ot): rickard rakell scored with
1.2 seconds left in overtime, help-
ing Anaheim cool off Colorado in
Denver.
Gabriel Landeskog had a goal
and two assists, Nathan macKin-
non had a goal and an assist and
Vladislav Namestnikov also
scored for the Avalanche, which
had its seven-game winning
streak snapped.
Andrew Agozzino, Brendan
Guhle and Sam Steel scored in
regulation for the Ducks. ryan
miller made 32 saves.Boychuk needs 90 stitches
New Yo rk Islanders defense-
man Johnny Boychuk needed
90 stitches on his eyelid after
being hit in the face with a skate
but suffered no damage to his
eye, team president and general
manager Lou Lamoriello said.
Boychuk was cut Tuesday
night when he was hit by Artturi
Lehkonen’s skate as the montreal
Canadiens left wing fell forward.
“Johnny Boychuk is okay.
There’s been no damage to his
eye,” Lamoriello told reporters.
“He felt t he skate blade g et h is e ye,NHl rouNdupCalgary stages late rally,
stuns visiting Columbus
FLAMEs 3,
BLuE JACKEts 2 (Ot)this room. We’ve just got to want it
more, I t hink. It’s a matter of effort
and mentality. Go out there and
do it right now because we’re a lot
better team than we’ve showed
lately.”
T he Capitals opened with a
flourish Wednesday, putting their
bottom-six scoring o n display and
flexing their muscles with chippi-
ness and physical play early. But
after a penalty-filled second peri-
od, they entered the third period
down 3-2.
The Capitals were booked for
five penalties and were short-
handed four times in the middle
frame, which started with them
leading by a goal. Although only
one infraction resulted in a goal,
the flyers outshot the hosts 18-8
in the period and utterly changed
the momentum.
“If we keep doing that, there is
not going to be a future for us,”
Capitals forward Garnet Hatha-
way said. “We got to figure some
stuff out.... We h ave to get better,
and we have to play better hockey.”
Hopes of a comeback fell flat in
the third, when flyers defense-
man Ivan Provorov beat Capitals
goaltender Braden Holtby with a
snipe 6:36 into the period before
center Scott Laughton sealed the
game when his shot deflected off
defenseman Dmitry orlov’s skate
with 5:45 remaining.
In a night dominated by spe-
cial-teams play, the Capitals were
unable to take advantage of their
opportunities and failed to mini-
mize the flyers’ chances. The
teams combined for 14 penalties
and 40 penalty minutes, and the
flyers converted one of their five
power plays; the Capitals c ame up
empty on their five chances with
the man advantage, mustering
just three shots on goal.
To m Wilson picked up two
fighting majors, one late in the
first period and the other late in
the second. While the scuffles m ay
have energized the home crowd,
they couldn’t prevent the on-ice
miscues.
“It is a point of strategy, b ut that
was a situation tonight that he’s
someone that’s important to our
team,” C apitals Coach To dd reird-
en said of Wilson’s two trips t o the
penalty box. “There’s a fine line
there.”
After a strong start, Washing-
ton slipped in a wild second peri-
od. minor penalties let the flyers
capItals from D1
back in the game. Travis Konecny
tied the score at 1 with a power-
play goal on a rebound 7:06 into
the period.
The tying goal changed the tide,
and the flyers rode it through the
end of the period, scoring again
just seconds after their power play
expired following the Capitals’
fourth minor penalty of the peri-
od. Kevin Hayes punched in the
goal at 14:48 after a nifty k ick pass
from Derek Grant at the front of
the net.
The flyers extended their lead
to 3-1 at 17:05 when Ty ler Pitlick
beat Holtby on an odd-man rush.
“[on that play] we get beat up,
[and] we get beat back by their
fourth guy,” Eller said. “Their ‘D’
jumps up, and we’re not there. I
think there’s two rushes, actually,
we get beat. It’s five guys playing
offense and five guys playing de-
fense, and right now we’re not
getting that.”
Hathaway pulled the Capitals
back within o ne goal, scoring on a
nice feed from Wilson with 1:28
left i n the period. It w as as artistic
as the hosts’ first goal, but it was
the last time they would light the
lamp.
The Capitals’ opening goalcame on a perfectly executed se-
quence from start to finish. It
started with Holtby’s quick outlet
pass to Carl Hagelin on the left
wing. The winger pushed the puck
ahead to richard Panik near the
slot, where Panik found a trailing
Eller, who beat Brian Elliott 5:51
into the game.
It was Eller’s 16th goal and
38th point, tying the career high
in points he recorded during the
2017-18 season.
Aside from Eller’s g oal, the Cap-
itals’ first period was rather tame
until Wilson’s first fight against
flyers center Nate Thompson.Wilson was displeased with
Thompson’s hit on Nick Jensen
along the boards and took it upon
himself to settle the score. The
pushing and shoving lingered
throughout the night, boiling over
again in the second period when
Wilson fought flyers defenseman
robert Hagg, but it gave the Capi-
tals little life.
“It’s frustrating.... We were
playing pretty well,” Holtby said.
“They just pushed harder. We
didn’t commit to the right areas
and didn’t g ive ourselves a chance
to win.”
[email protected]Caps can’t hang with streaking Flyers
JONATHAN NewTON/THe wASHINgTON POST
the Flyers beat capitals goaltender Braden Holtby three times in the second period Wednesday.CApItAls’ NeXt t Hreeat N ew York rangersToday7NBCSwat p ittsburgh penguinsSaturday1NBCSw,
NHl Networkat B uffalo s abresMonday7NBCSwRadio: WJFK (106.7 FM),
WFED (1500 AM)Flyers 5, Capitals 2
PhILadELPhIa ........................ 0 32 —5
WaShINGtoN ......................... 1 10 —2
FIRSt PERIod
Scoring: 1, Washington, Eller 16 (Hagelin, Panik), 14:09.
SECoNd PERIod
Scoring: 2, Philadelphia, Konecny 24 (Giroux, Provorov),
7:06 (pp). 3, Philadelphia, Hayes 23 (Aube-Kubel, Grant),
14:48. 4, Philadelphia, Pitlick 8 (Grant, Raffl), 17:05. 5,
Washington, Hathaway 8 (Wilson, Dowd), 18:32.
thIRd PERIod
Scoring: 6, Philadelphia, Provorov 12 (Voracek), 6:36. 7,
Philadelphia, Laughton 13 (Hayes), 14:15.
ShotS oN GoaL
PhILadELPhIa ........................ 7 18 4— 29
WaShINGtoN ......................... 7 81 2— 27
Power-play opportunities: Philadelphia 1 of 5; Washing-
ton 0 of 5. Goalies: Philadelphia, Elliott 16-7-4 (27
shots-25 saves). Washington, Holtby 24-14-5 (29-24).
a: 18,573 (18,277). t: 2:37.