Sports digital news outlet The Athletic is laying off approximately four percent of its journalistic staff today in a larger reorganization of the company. Additionally, The Athletic is reassigning over 20 reporters to new beats, including those placed on regional coverage or general assignment reporting. The New York Times Company purchased The Athletic for $550 million with the goal of expanding its subscription base to 10 million people by 2025. The company has endured several rounds of layoffs over the last five years and speaks to the transitioning state of sports journalism.
Publisher David Perpich and executive editor Steven Ginsberg announced the reorganization, which will focus on quality storytelling over the quantity of teams and entities the outlet is aiming to cover. The initial mission of The Athletic was to cover every professional sports team, but the endeavor has proved to be costly and somewhat ineffective.
“The Athletic has generally viewed every league in a similar manner, with similar beats and offerings, but our growing body of research and our own understanding of the sports we cover compel a more nuanced approach,” the company said in a statement. “There is no perfect formula for determining which teams to cover, but we are committing dedicated beat reporters to the ones that most consistently produce stories that appeal to both large and news-hungry fan bases, as well as league-wide audiences.”
From the outside, the reorganization might seem concerning to those in journalism; however, it is apparently part of a larger effort to streamline the company’s processes and engender effective reporting. Some of the journalists laid off today include Rich Hofmann, Bob Kravitz and Marc Antoine Godin, and more names could slowly be divulged as the day goes on. Additionally, the company has reportedly eliminated its sports business beat, laying off writers Daniel Kaplan and Bill Shea on Monday. The move comes just two months after senior vice president and general manager Evan Parker left the company he helped build into the groundbreaking entity it is today.
“Even with the changes being announced today, the size of our newsroom will grow this year compared to last, as will our overall investments in our editorial group in the years ahead,” the company said in a statement. “At the end of this process, we will have more than 100 beat reporters on teams.”
Since the purchase of The Athletic by The New York Times Company, the outlet has lost $36 million despite increasing revenue. Last year, the publication added more than 1 million new subscribers, aggrandizing its subscription base to nearly 9.6 million, but maintained flat revenue patterns from advertising. Total operating costs increased by about 10% to $548.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, and the company lost $6.9 million during that time.
