The Athletic, the New York Times’ dedicated sports newsroom, has hired six former Washington Post sports journalists weeks after the newspaper ended its sports section.
The hires include Post columnist Barry Svrluga to cover the Washington Commanders; reporter Spencer Nusbaum to continue covering the Washington Nationals; columnist Candace Buckner to launch a new column; reporter Ava Wallace to cover tennis and contribute to women’s sports coverage; reporter Adam Kilgore to join its rapid-response investigative unit; and former Post sports editor Jason Murray as deputy editorial director. The six join the Athletic’s team of more than 500 journalists.
“With these moves, we intend to provide fans in Washington with unparalleled coverage of the teams and sports they love,” executive editor Steven Ginsberg said in a note to staff.
The hires were first reported by Axios. Ginsberg told the outlet that, while the Post was no longer a “go-to place for sports for Washingtonians,” “we want to make sure that people understand that the Athletic can be one.”
Washington Post executive editor Matt Murray defended shuttering the sports desk, noting the challenge competing in a changing sports media landscape.
The Athletic has served as a landing spot for sports reporters after legacy papers like the Post, Los Angeles Times and New York Times have scaled back. It’s latest hiring spree follows the upstart Baltimore Banner planning to cover D.C.-based sports teams.
Ginsberg told TheWrap earlier this month that he felt the need “to prove the value of sports journalism” through the Athletic’s work, especially after the Post ended its sports desk.
“Fans are into sports for lots of reasons, but one of the big ones is fun, and they want to get good information out of it, and so they’ll gravitate to places that are fun and that give them good information,” he said. “At the Athletic, we’re trying to do both.”
