It has been a long, hard road for bosses at The Athletic as the regionalized sports site has tried to launch its DC based vertical. According to Deadspin, the company was rebuffed by a number of Washington Post sports staffers it approached. WaPo also floated the idea of beating The Athletic to the market by launching a subscription-based sports only service. The market is also home to Sports Capitol, a subscription-based sports daily started by three local writers.
Today though, The Athletic got a big win in the nation’s capitol. The company has announced that David Aldridge will leave Turner Sports in October to take over as the first editor-in-chief of The Athletic DC. Aldridge notes that it will be the first time he has been the editor-in-chief of any publication since he ran The Eagle during his days as a student at American University.
After 30 years on planes…I’m coming home. I’ll be joining The Athletic D.C. as Editor in Chief: https://t.co/x7PoY9I2f0. And here’s how you can sign up for great D.C. sports coverage with a 30 percent discount: https://t.co/USTK5jPfNO
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) September 10, 2018
The Athletic announced its full roster of DC talent as well on Monday. Chris Kuc will cover the Capitals. Tarik El-Bashir, Rhiannon Walker, Grant Paulsen, and Mark Bullock will all contribute to Redskins coverage. The Athletic DC’s basketball coverage will feature Fred Katz on the Wizards, Eamonn Brennan focusing on college hoops, and Lindsay Gibbs will cover the WNBA’s Mystics. Pablo Maurer will lead the D.C. United coverage.
