The Athletic makes major announcement

On Monday, The Athletic launched a new vertical covering sports memorabilia in partnership with eBay.

Per AdWeek , the multi-year agreement will also include tie-ins to “shoppable” sports memorabilia on eBay.

The vertical is launching as part of a multiyear partnership with the commerce platform eBay, which in recent years has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into growing its collectibles and memorabilia business.

As part of the agreement, relevant eBay trading cards, collectibles, and memorabilia will be shoppable throughout The Athletic. The publisher declined to share financial specifics.

The vertical will also include branded content from T Brand Studios and media campaigns.

This is The Athletic’s latest agreement with a third-party “strategic brand partner,” following deals with BetMGM and StubHub.

Editors and freelancers will initially handle coverage at the vertical, which will contain news and “coverage designed to help potential buyers navigate a purchase decision.” It remains to be seen how *that* coverage will work. Tracking prices on eBay over the recent months and years?

A company launching new coverage of a category with not-insignificant backing from a company that has a foothold in that category (which includes sports betting coverage across many companies sponsored by sportsbooks) justifiably leads to some skepticism. Will The Athletic’s new sports memorabilia vertical cover any controversies that may be tied to eBay? Will it give eBay any scrutiny, and will competitors be treated differently?

These are interesting questions to ask in the aftermath of the vertical’s launch. We’ll see if it gains much traction or follows in the footsteps of some of The Athletic’s other verticals that were heavily hyped, yet short-lived.

[ AdWeek ]

The post The Athletic launches sports memorabilia vertical with backing from eBay appeared first on Awful Announcing .