The Athletic

[Fox Fan]

*Mods, move this if there's a more appropriate forum for it.

The Athletic has launched today - it's been pretty well hyped over the summer with lots of local and national journalists leaving their publications for it. Most notably for us is Rob Tanner, but other decent journalists like Daniel Taylor (Guardian) and Laurie Whitwell (Daily Mail) have joined too. Supposedly it's aim is to provide higher quality football news and content, focused at a local level, but without all the click bait and bullsh*t ads currently ruining the Leicester mercury website.

They've got some decent Leicester stuff on there today, including an interview with Perez where he says that Newcastle lacked his ambition. Supposedly they'll be big into tactical analysis too, but we'll have to wait for Monday before we'll know how good that might be.

If you want to join, it's 40% off today - this link gets me some cashback, but if Jeff can change it so he benefits, please do.

https://theathletic.com/checkout?pc=raf40&plan_id=45&shared_by_name=Max&shared_by=2442837


If you want to read more about it: https://www.buzzfeed.com/amphtml/markdistefano/athletic-hiring-spree?__twitter_impression=true

 

[Miles Away]

Out of professional curiosity I'd love to hear if anyone is thinking of signing up?

They've been spending a WILD amount of money in the States and claim to have 500K paid subscribers. A lot of former colleagues are over there now. I've mixed thoughts on it. Would be amazing to think people will pay for high-quality journalism...but I'm skeptical they will.

Ultimately they are the final nail in the local newspaper coffin. That has certainly been the case stateside where they have gutted out local newsrooms acquiring the best talent.

 

[Mike - True Blue Tinter]

Will we see a different slant on Rob Tanner’s journalism? I always felt that in past years both the Mockery and RL were sometimes guilty of towing the LCFC party line.

 

[Graz]

Out of professional curiosity I'd love to hear if anyone is thinking of signing up?

They've been spending a WILD amount of money in the States and claim to have 500K paid subscribers. A lot of former colleagues are over there now. I've mixed thoughts on it. Would be amazing to think people will pay for high-quality journalism...but I'm skeptical they will.

Ultimately they are the final nail in the local newspaper coffin. That has certainly been the case stateside where they have gutted out local newsrooms acquiring the best talent.

I'm very tempted by it for this reason.

Even at 50% off which is offered on their site right now, I'm thinking do I really need to pay £3 a month for football news when it's so readily available elsewhere and no doubt their articles will be reshared/quoted on other sites.

But I'm massively in support of anything that encourages proper journalism and quality writing and analysis over click bait, ad revenue and the desperation to being first for a story without any real sources. Even the BBC have sadly gone down the clickbait route, because they did used to have some quality articles but they're disppearing.

So for that reason, I'm tempted.

Also it seems like at least half of the football journalists I follow are now part of The Athletic.

My only concern is will they have enough content I want to read to make the subscription worthwhile?

 

[Mike - True Blue Tinter]

I suppose that depends on whether the clubs respect them and grant them access to the management and senior players, like they do with someone like Percy.

 

[Miles Away]

I suppose that depends on whether the clubs respect them and grant them access to the management and senior players, like they do with someone like Percy.

They 100% will. This isn't a flash in the pan. Deep pockets and a commitment to content and news-breaking.

 

[Miles Away]

Will we see a different slant on Rob Tanner’s journalism? I always felt that in past years both the Mockery and RL were sometimes guilty of towing the LCFC party line.

The model doesn't rely on clicks/advertising, so it should remove a lot of the "clickbait" that exists solely to serve an ad impression. Their revenue is driven wholly by subscriptions (and their value driven by the first party data they gather).

It's a good thing, just hard to imagine a business model that leaves them profitable.

 

[pork pie fox]

The model doesn't rely on clicks/advertising, so it should remove a lot of the "clickbait" that exists solely to serve an ad impression. Their revenue is driven wholly by subscriptions (and their value driven by the first party data they gather).

It's a good thing, just hard to imagine a business model that leaves them profitable.

While there are free resources, I struggle to see how they would attract enough subscribers. That's not to say that they won't have any, but I think it's tough to break how people are accustomed to not paying for stuff. This is a problem that isn't unique to them, obviously, as monetising stuff that was once free is a difficult thing to do (see Twitter, Facebook etc, too).

 

[Miles Away]

While there are free resources, I struggle to see how they would attract enough subscribers. That's not to say that they won't have any, but I think it's tough to break how people are accustomed to not paying for stuff. This is a problem that isn't unique to them, obviously, as monetising stuff that was once free is a difficult thing to do (see Twitter, Facebook etc, too).

And the money they are shelling out for the talent is not insignificant.

 

[Fox Fan]

Out of professional curiosity I'd love to hear if anyone is thinking of signing up?

They've been spending a WILD amount of money in the States and claim to have 500K paid subscribers. A lot of former colleagues are over there now. I've mixed thoughts on it. Would be amazing to think people will pay for high-quality journalism...but I'm skeptical they will.

Ultimately they are the final nail in the local newspaper coffin. That has certainly been the case stateside where they have gutted out local newsrooms acquiring the best talent.

I've gone for it. Actually not because I just want to read about Leicester (although I've spent the last ten mins reading an excellent article on the Maguire transfer saga), but rather because I want to know the inside stories on other clubs that my friends and colleagues follow.

I also think that we do need to support proper journalism and at the moment the best stuff, generally by the Times and the Telegraph, is behind paywalls.

 

[Brown Nose]

The Whitwell article on there about the Maguire transfer is excellent.

 

[foxtildeath]

The rise of Leicester CEO Susan Whelan

Another great article by Tanner. Good insight on Susan Whelan.

 

[Miles Away]

Been good so far.

Double bonus for me is all the NFL, NBA and NASCAR content.

 

[Robin127]

Blimey, you really embraced the lifestyle.

 

[Miles Away]

Blimey, you really embraced the lifestyle.

I mean, I chose to live here. Might as well embrace it. Plus sports pay the bills (specifically NASCAR these days).

 

[Robin127]

What's the link with NASCAR apart from living in Charlotte?

 

[Miles Away]

What's the link with NASCAR apart from living in Charlotte?

I work for them now.

 

[Robin127]

NASCAR really is a very American sport, there is nothing like it anywhere else in the world unlike the ball sports you mentioned. Personally I prefer it's motorcycle equivalent.

 

[Blaarev]

NASCAR really is a very American sport, there is nothing like it anywhere else in the world unlike the ball sports you mentioned. Personally I prefer it's motorcycle equivalent.

NASMOTORCYCLE?

 

[Robin127]

Flattrack.