"Mr. Mather and his co-founder, Adam Hansmann, have positioned the Athletic as a reader-supported, advertising-free alternative to traditional sports coverage, at a time when nationally recognized outlets like ESPN and Sports Illustrated have cut positions and had to rethink their approach to sports news."

is a pretty interesting quote, that they are "reader supported". Given that they've now raised $30M, I wonder what their reader revenue looks like vs. VC money. I hope they have some success because the journalism market needs some success stories.