Why The Athletic Wants to Pillage Newspapers<br />But Parikh, the investor, said, “Advertising has a very real opportunity down the road<br />with The Athletic,” before adding that it would have to be “customer centric.”<br />Mather and Hansmann declined to disclose subscription numbers,<br />but they have said Toronto, their most successful local site, has more than 15,000 subscribers.<br />Only one of the local sites, Toronto, breaks even — Chicago and the Bay Area and “a few smaller markets” are on track to do so by the end of the year, executives said —<br />but most subscribers pay upfront for an annual subscription, so The Athletic had cash in hand to continue operations.<br />Mather said that when The Athletic’s executives spoke with Kovacevic, they had no intention of expanding into Pittsburgh in the near term, and<br />that he and Hansmann “only make ‘promises’ to our customers, employees, investors and partners.”<br />“We are doing great work,” Mather said.<br />Hansmann said The Athletic pulled no punches in its reporting on the Argonauts, while Mather suggested The Athletic could<br />partner with teams on insider video or events in which subscribers go to the stadium early for exclusive access.
