New York Times To Shut Down Its Sports Desk, Shift Its Daily Coverage To Acquired Firm

New York Times Co NYT will shut down its sports desk and shift its daily coverage of athletes and teams to The Athletic, the newspaper announced Monday.

The decision to dismantle The Times' long-standing Sports desk comes as the paper aims to provide a "greater abundance of sports coverage than ever before," New York Times Chairman A.G. Sulzberger and CEO Meredith Kopit Levien announced in a memo Monday. 

The closure will allow the paper to maximize both The Times' and The Athletic's respective newsrooms.

Sports stories across The Times' website will be sourced from the nearly 150 daily stories published by The Athletic, including coverage of leagues, teams, and domestic and international players.

The New York Times had acquired The Athletic last year to expand its sporting coverage.

"Since the acquisition of The Athletic 18 months ago, our goal has been to become a global leader in sports journalism, which represents a major pillar of our company strategy to be the essential subscription for curious people around the world," the company noted.

Sulzberger and Levien said there were "no plans for layoffs" due to the changes, and "newsroom leadership will actively work with all our Sports colleagues to ensure they land in the right roles."

Sports reporters and editors will shift from the previous freestanding Sports desk to other desks around the newsroom, where some will continue producing stories about sports.

Unlike many in The Times's newsroom, journalists at The Athletic are not part of a union.

The union representing The Times's newsroom described the move as "union-busting" in a statement released on Monday.

Despite its growth, The Athletic has not yet achieved profitability. It posted a loss of $7.8 million in the first quarter of this year.

The number of paying subscribers to The Athletic has increased significantly, rising to more than three million as of March 2023, up from just over one million at the time of its acquisition.

Price Action: NYT shares closed at $40.63 on Monday.