The UK arm of a subscription sports news site that has local reporters for every Premier League club, with its UK base in London.
The Athletic is a subscription sports news and analysis publication, and its UK edition focuses mainly on football. When it launched in the UK in August 2019, the plan was dedicated coverage of every Premier League club, with at least one reporter per club and up to three at clubs where competition for stories is stronger. It also covered some Championship clubs, including Leeds, Nottingham Forest, Derby County and West Brom. Press Gazette reported that around 150 of the roughly 1,500 stories published weekly were expected to have a UK focus. Its approach is subscription-only: "no ads, no videos, no pop-ups".
The Athletic was co-founded by Alex Mather and Adam Hansman, both previously at Strava, and launched in San Francisco in 2016. The UK launch was led by Ed Malyon, a former sports editor of the Independent, as managing director of UK operations, and Alex Kay-Jelski, a former sports editor of The Times, in charge of editorial content. The mission, as set out at launch, was to give readers a product they want, funded solely by reader subscriptions. The Athletic later became part of The New York Times Company, which bought it in 2022. A Press Gazette article describes the stated aim as a better product for fans.
At launch, the UK head office was in Southwark, London, while reporters were mainly based near the clubs they cover. About 55 editorial staff were expected to be in place, nearly all of them British. The UK site is at theathletic.co.uk. Job listings seen in search results show editor roles based in London (news editor, senior editor, deputy news editor and a head of global sports), plus a lead writer role for Tifo, the football-analysis brand. The launch details are from 2019, so the current office location and team size are unconfirmed.
Mr Malyon described the UK business as a "very British enterprise". At launch, all staff were offered equity in the parent company, and the company presented quality journalism and treating staff well as a draw for writers. A 2017 New York Times article about the company's aggressive hiring drew criticism of its then-chief executive's remarks about local papers, and a spokesperson later said he had apologised and the company's position had evolved. These culture points come from the company and press coverage and have not been verified independently.
Roles in a sports newsroom include reporters who cover individual clubs, editors and sub-editors, data and analysis writers, video and podcast producers, social-media and audience staff, product and engineering teams, and subscriptions, marketing and finance staff. English, journalism, history, languages, data and sport-related subjects are useful starting points. The company's own website lists current openings.
Website: theathletic.com
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