Far OT: The Athletic
I just saw where "The Athletic" passed the 600,000 subscriber mark. For those that have a subscription do you feel you get value from it? What separates it from say "The Ringer" and other sports journalism sites?
I ask this as someone with no opinion about the site other than it being a surprise (to me) that after 25 years or so of sports journalism on the Internet that "The Athletic" has possibly cracked the code of getting users to pay money for, what I presume, is quality sports content.
August 25th, 2019 at 9:20 PM ^
I signed up for it when it was like 90% off, so like $15 for a full year. It's pretty solid, but I certainly wouldn't pay full price for it.
For Michigan specific content, MGoBlog is superior.
August 25th, 2019 at 9:36 PM ^
Meh. Hasn’t been worth it so far. But I’ll reserve judgement when season is in full swing
August 25th, 2019 at 9:43 PM ^
Brendan Quinn’s articles on Michigan hoops alone are worth it. Deep dive articles and great writing.
August 25th, 2019 at 9:47 PM ^
I got one of the heavy discounts too, well worth it. I think even more so once the Michigan podcasts get up and running
August 26th, 2019 at 10:01 AM ^
You don’t need a subscription to download podcasts lmao
August 25th, 2019 at 9:57 PM ^
It was more worth it for Michigan fans when they had Dylan from UMHoops writing heavily analytical stuff on the basketball team. Without that, the style is mostly the same beat writer stuff as everywhere else, although with two guys, Nick and Brendan, who are legitimately great at it.
Worth it if you like those types of stories to go along with the more "on the field" driven content from here and umhoops (which is also very much worth the subscription) IMO. I personally am glad I picked it up.
August 25th, 2019 at 10:04 PM ^
High-quality writers, deep dives in-season, no ads.
They also seem to have greater access than most traditional beat writers, though it's hard to say if that's cause or effect.
I only visit here for Michigan and the Athletic for all other teams. It's a bargain at $60/year.
EDIT: I’ll also add that their human interest stories remind me of SI in its heyday. (SI always had technically exquisite writers, who unfortunately didn’t know as much about sports as they thought they did, but that’s another story).
For example, there was an excellent article recently about the Arkansas State football coach whose wife was battling cancer. (She just died last week too). It was such a well-told story of his own maturation and how they grew as a family. That’s the kind of writing you won’t typically find in any other sports publication. It’s earnest, not obnoxious like Deadspin nor pretentious like The Ringer.
August 26th, 2019 at 7:42 AM ^
SI's long form articles were special and I too remember them from back in the day. I didn't know The Athletic was doing that type of work.
August 26th, 2019 at 10:39 AM ^
Those SI pieces made me want to get into sportswriting and I'm working on some things that are fairly similar. Hoping to have some quality longform pieces for you guys this season. Quite a few pots on the stove right now. Just waiting to see which boils first.
August 25th, 2019 at 10:11 PM ^
I love it, but I love long form journalism. I know some people don't like the deep dive into coaches/players backgrounds and off the field stuff. Some are just happy with game articles and box scores.
Quinn alone is worth it to me. He is a top 5 sports writer of all time to me. I am curious to see what Baumgardner comes up with in that format, as I always read his stuff too.
I don't read a ton of the national stuff unless a headline grabs my attention. A Seahawks writer had an incredible piece on Malik McDowell.
It all really depends on what your into, and what you are looking for.
I am not a real big hockey guy, but their Red Wings beat writer, Max Bultman always writes stories that grab my attention.
August 25th, 2019 at 10:13 PM ^
I just got it at a discount. $30. It will be worth it to me. The fantasy football stuff has been good.
August 25th, 2019 at 10:14 PM ^
For Nick, Brendan, and because I'm a Wild fan Michael Russo, it is well worth it to me, those are my three favorite writers, and they all write for the same sight well worth paying for it. If they wrote for different pay sites I would probably pick and choose, all of them in the same spot makes it easy.
August 25th, 2019 at 10:15 PM ^
I still wonder about the Athletic being some sort of ponzi scheme though. They have just about every big money sports writer that there is on their payroll. Most people are buying subs at severe discounts. I know they as re heavily financed, but the math doesn't ever add up how they are paying for these people and their expenses, but I will enjoy it while it lasts.
August 25th, 2019 at 10:33 PM ^
This is how start ups work - venture capitalists throw money at them until they can make it on their own. There are several rounds of funding, for which they (the owners) need to lay out the business plan and ask for money. The capitalists take a cut of profits, whenever that happens. The deep discounts last year for subscriptions was only to gain subscribers. I have no clue how many they need to turn a profit.
August 25th, 2019 at 11:35 PM ^
That's the gamble -- that deep discounts up front will result in a loyal subscriber base that will stick around and pay full freight after their discount period ends. If a lot of people are willing to subscribe only at a deep discount, this thing will never make money, the VCs and owners will throw in the towel, and the writers will have to find new gigs from websites that rely on ad revenue to survive. I don't subscribe, but I hope it works because I support any attempt to add a higher level of commentary than what we normally get. Fwiw, I do subscribe to UM Hoops, and I hope Dylan's approach works too.
August 25th, 2019 at 11:30 PM ^
I work in PE with Subscription/SaaS businesses, although none as big/fast growing as the Athletic, but the business model is probably quite attractive.
- At 500,000 users paying even $15/year (1/4 of rack), that's $7.5 million in revenue, and they are expecting to reach a million subscribers by end of year (2x)
- They'll need to spend a good bit of money to acquire those subscribers (advertising et al, + plus new writers to support new teams etc), hence the funding, but it's likely a viable business without much if any more scale.
- The biggest/most attractive factor is renewals, an automatic jump from $1 month to even $5 month is something that will get overlooked by most people on their credit card/bank statement, and $60 isn't much for their market to pay. If they have strong renewal percentages, it's basically money in the bank.
- There's currently a glut of great writers who have been laid off from ESPN/newspapers etc who are now quite cheap.
- Most of their staff writers are likely contractors/free lancers, who potentially do other gigs and whom they don't pay full salaries or benefits for. 50 contractors at 40K/year is only $2 million, so you can make the staffing numbers work pretty quickly.
I obviously don't know anything about the business itself or what they pay for talent, and if it's VC backed, they could just be juicing the growth numbers to sell it for big $, and planning to let the next owner slash it and burn it back to viability, but back of envelope I don't see why the business model wouldn't work at that level of subscription revenue.
August 26th, 2019 at 7:51 AM ^
I don't know much about their business model either, but 50 writers at 40K/year seems awfully low to me. Even if true, the business needs support staff, people managing the website, etc.
Maybe they CAN make money by being highly decentralized--independent contract writers getting paid per piece with little management and staffing other than a few editors, fact checkers, etc. and very little overhead.
But as a true sports "newsroom" with a traditional journalism structure, I don't see 7.5 million coming close to covering their costs, even without all the advertising to grow the business.
August 26th, 2019 at 9:13 AM ^
Analytics baby!
$$$ in numbers...thats what a friend told me.
August 26th, 2019 at 7:43 AM ^
MoviePass, Part II
August 25th, 2019 at 10:32 PM ^
Far out, man!
August 26th, 2019 at 12:18 AM ^
I Guarantee you 600k is a marketing number to get reactions like yours. It’s similar to an SEC team announcing “paid” attendance. How many bulk deals does that include at $1 per year per sub?
August 26th, 2019 at 1:19 AM ^
i joined when there was a 50% discount to try it out.
key thing is that you aren't and shouldn't be joining just for Michigan coverage, as it wouldn't be worth it... but i follow a number of different teams and leagues... so for that, i have found it to be worthwhile as you will be reading in throughout the year... when leagues end play, there is typically other leagues starting up.
in theory, there is never really a 'slow' period like summer for Michigan coverage. i've enjoyed it - the long format stories are great... especially as some sites are moving more towards video stories rather than actual articles...if they get more podcasts going, i think it will be even better.
i think its been worthwhile and i will probably reup and see how it goes.
August 26th, 2019 at 1:45 AM ^
Nothing about The Athletic makes sense to me. It strikes me as a "too big to fail" situation right before the inevitable collapse. Just too many writers ending up over there when they're handing away subscriptions like too-good-to-be-true Groupons. How does any of it add up in the current media landscape?
August 26th, 2019 at 5:22 AM ^
I got a 1 year subscription for $36 on the day nick baumgardner announced he was writing for them. I'd say that if you're looking only for Michigan content, it's not worth the money. They're not going to have any information that isn't on mgoblog. If you're also into a few pro sports teams, along with the 'national' articles about CFB and the NFL, it's probably worth the $36.
August 26th, 2019 at 8:25 AM ^
I did the same thing. Not really any insider information, but good and well written articles.
Threadjack:::: The Wolverine/Rivals
Anyone have an opinion on this? I see it is basically free ($75 but get a $75 Adidas Gift Card). This Promo expires 8/31/19.
https://michigan.rivals.com/news/michigan-wolverine-football-training-camp-special
August 26th, 2019 at 11:27 AM ^
That deal would have been more valuable before we went back to Nike. I’ve honestly never seen an Adidas store or outlet before, so it’s pretty much just for their website.
August 26th, 2019 at 7:54 AM ^
Before this gets booted off the front page, thanks to all who chimed in on their opinions. While many might not renew at a higher subscription rate, I did sense most thought there was some value to be extracted from "The Athletic" content one couldn't easily find elsewhere.
August 26th, 2019 at 8:45 AM ^
Don't forget to figure in ads (it will happen) and the data. Men who spend money on sports is a nice target demographic. Add in you telling them your favorite teams, geographic area etc.....
This side should dwarf the subscription size.
August 26th, 2019 at 10:25 AM ^
Do you only like the University of Michigan? Honestly might not be worth it, although Brendan Quinn is incredible. Do you like any other sports team? Then yes, it's absolutely worth it. Pay for quality journalism, or get absolute shit articles from 247 and the like.
August 26th, 2019 at 10:56 AM ^
Faux Pelini and the long form journalism are worth the price of a subscription.