Yahoo Launches Athletic "challenger"

soxhop411

news aggravator
SoSH Member
Dec 4, 2009
46,274
Yahoo Sports is creating a potential challenger to the The Athletic’s subscription model, The Post has learned.

While Yahoo will cover teams, its approach will be different than The Athletic, which has tried to digitally recreate the sports page.

Yahoo’s business will act a bit more like a membership club. It will cover teams, while attempting to form an insider community, with what it says will be insider experiences for fans.

The burgeoning business will begin in Flushing with the Mets. The name of the product will be the Queens Baseball Club.

It will include three writers covering the team, while planning to give members a behind-the-scenes experience, such as access to batting practices, press conferences and front office Q&As.

The team and Yahoo have a three-year agreement, according to sources. Yahoo declined to say how much it will pay the Mets. The Mets declined comment entirely.

Yahoo is working out deals with other teams. The Yankees are not involved right now.

The site will launch March 28 and the cost is expected to be $4.99 or $5.99 per month, according to Yahoo officials.
Yahoo plans on hiring a columnist, beat reporter and a backup beat person for each team. In New York, they have lured Wallace Matthews away from the Daily News to be its columnist, according to sources. They have not hired a beat reporter yet or a backup beat person.
https://nypost.com/2019/02/19/yahoo-pitching-paid-baseball-content-and-starting-with-mets/
One Problem:

National News outlets don't pay their sources (teams), they pay leagues (like ESPN with NFL/MLB), so im not sure how this will work.....
 
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PedroKsBambino

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
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Apr 17, 2003
31,185
The Mets and Yahoo together? That's basically the anti-Belichick/Brady combination when it comes to recent success.
 

jon abbey

Shanghai Warrior
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Jul 15, 2005
70,713
Hahaha, they ‘lured Wallace Matthews away from the Daily News’, an awful writer from a close to dead paper. Quite a coup!

Agreed that this won’t last long.
 

DJnVa

Dorito Dawg
SoSH Member
Dec 16, 2010
53,837
ESPN pays MLB for broadcast rights. They don't pay the Boston Red Sox for rights to do interviews in the clubhouse or to get their best customers on the field for batting practice
Sure, it's not a 1:1 comparison, but the money ESPN pays to a league it covers gives them access to the teams AND the league. It's just more of the same.

Not that I'm interested in the product in any way. My point is it's pretty much all incestuous, this is just the next step.