They market themselves as go-to sources for industry professionals, where executives stay ahead of the game. But here’s the truth from someone who’s written for them and sat inside the machine: they don’t respect their audience and can’t deliver.
They are not investigative journals, critical think tanks, or competent trade publications. They are a press release factory, repackaging corporate fluff as reporting. The editors don’t believe their subscribers deserve a thought-provoking analysis. They believe their job is to feed them the bare minimum—PR rewritten as “news,” puff pieces dressed up as deep dives, and just enough “insider” talk to justify the price tag. And yet, subscribers keep paying.
The WTP-WTA Problem: Behavioral economics tells us that willingness to pay (WTP) and willingness to accept (WTA) differ. In some cases, WTP exceeds WTA, but research shows that when this happens, it’s often because the people making the transaction are less sophisticated, not more. Free speech and critical thought are eroded, not because of some grand conspiracy but because the audience doesn’t demand anything better. Executives pay for access, not insight, and mistake information for knowledge. For example, Sports Illustrated fired most of its staff last year, replacing them with AI-generated drivel. Who noticed? No one. But people noticed when Stephen A. Smith signed a $20 million contract. That’s real money in an industry with no barriers to entry, where a lack of expertise is often the most valuable asset you can have.
Nobody Smart Works in Sports (Or Covers It): Sports business attracts two types of people: former athletes/coaches who weren’t good enough to keep playing and business-school grads who couldn’t hack it in actual finance or tech. These are not investigative journalists. They see their job as brown-nosing leagues and sponsors, not challenging them. Their idea of a scoop is to get an executive to leak which beer will be on tap next year at MSG. The role isn’t to hold power accountable—it’s to keep ad buyers happy and maintain access. Their audience, in turn, pays for the illusion of competence.
The Headlines Speak for Themselves: Reading them is like watching a hamster wheel spin. Every “breaking” story is either a corporate transaction, a marketing stunt, or a deal so inevitable it barely qualifies as news. If sports business were covered seriously, we’d see exposés on: “How billionaire owners keep conning cities into paying for stadiums,” “How sports betting deals are setting up the next financial scandal,” and “How TV contracts are gutting fan access.” Instead, we get glorified press releases and sanitized coverage designed to make executives feel important. They aren’t newsrooms—they are a country club newsletter disguised as journalism. As a sports analogy, it’s the Toronto Maple Leafs or Chicago White Sox of sports writing—hopeless.
The Bigger Problem: Sports Media Is an Academic Joke: Sports is not an academic pursuit. Instead, it’s quickly becoming the laughingstock of higher education, using outlets to push conspiracy theories about practice, grit, and talent that have more in common with eugenics than science. It’s a field where opinions matter more than expertise, and people with no background in cognitive science or developmental psychology are given platforms to spout nonsense about what makes athletes great.
Free Speech, Sullivan v. New York Times, and the Future of Journalism: This isn’t just about bad journalism. It’s about free speech. New York Times v. Sullivan established that the press should be free to challenge power, not serve as its stenographer.
Where You Spend Your Money Matters: As a consumer, your money is a vote. So ask yourself: What do you want to support? Jeff Bezos at The Washington Post? Sports Business Journal? Stephen A. Smith’s next contract? You have lots of options. Understand that your actions have consequences.
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All author-submitted articles represent personal opinions/assertions. TSC opinions/assertions are published under the TSC byline.
