You might not think of the New York Times as a premier sports news source, but in 2022, it acquired a publication called “The Athletic.” Now the paid-subscription sports site will add commerce to its content in a deal with eBay. According to the New York Times announcement:
“As part of the vertical launch, The Athletic announces a multi-year exclusive collectibles partnership with eBay, providing sports fans with memorabilia content and data-based insights from eBay’s global marketplace. As a result, readers will gain knowledge of the latest trends from the world of sports trading cards and memorabilia.
“The exclusive collectibles partnership, a first for The Athletic, will make relevant eBay collectibles and memorabilia discoverable through The Athletic’s collectibles content and various product platforms. The partnership will allow readers to seamlessly search and purchase collectible items from their favorite players, teams, leagues and sports, powered by The Athletic and eBay. This is The Athletic’s first editorial vertical focused on supporting purchasing decisions.”
Collectibles is one of eBay’s priorities, known as a focus category, which has been a priority of the new CEO Jamie Iannone. This year, eBay acquired Goldin marketplace from Collectors and integrated PSA grading with eBay.
According to a welcome page of The Athletic’s new portal:
“Thanks to our partnership with eBay, our coverage will include exclusive data and insights from the world’s largest collectibles marketplace, which will be invaluable to every collector. It will also include the stories behind iconic, historically significant items like the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle card or Babe Ruth’s game-used equipment, as well as things that hold far more sentimental value than monetary value. It will include analysis on new products and the growing market for women’s sports collectibles. It will bring you inside major industry events like The National Sports Collectors Convention, with insights from a variety of perspectives. It will cut across all sports and types of collectibles. It will also expand on The Athletic’s existing coverage of new uniform and kit releases.”
Some comments left by readers of the NYT’s The Athletic included the following:
“Happy for you as a writer, but pitching an eBay partnership as a sweet little perk for readers and not as an advertisement feels disingenuous at best and like TA thinks readers are stupid at worst.”
“Hope you’ll include boxing collectibles from time to time, as well as autographs of all stripes.”
“Excited for this. I know this is a sports centered website, but as a Pokemon and older Yu-Gi-Oh guy I’m hoping to see a little love in that direction too. If not, can’t wait to see hockey coverage and some price trends. This is awesome, thanks for doing this y’all.”
The NYT said beginning this year, eBay will be integrated across The Athletic’s ecosystem, including team and player pages, editorial articles and live blogs, social posts and newsletters.
