The Athletic Poaches Six Sports Reporters from WaPo

The Athletic has aggressively capitalized on the Washington Post's recent decision to shutter its storied sports desk by hiring six prominent former Post sports journalists, aiming to fill the significant gap in local Washington, D.C. sports coverage.

The hires, announced February 26, 2026, include: 

• Longtime Post columnist and D.C. sports chronicler Barry Svrluga, who will cover the Washington Commanders while also contributing to major national stories
• Spencer Nusbaum, continuing his Nationals beat 
• Award-winning columnist Candace Buckner, moving to a national columnist role
• Ava Wallace, taking on tennis coverage plus women's sports
• Investigative reporter Adam Kilgore, joining The Athletic's new rapid-response investigative unit as a senior writer
• Former Post sports editor Jason Murray, stepping in as deputy editorial director to help oversee daily news across North American sports.

The Athletic's executive editor Steven Ginsberg—himself a former longtime Washington Post editor—framed the moves as a deliberate strategy to step into the void created by the Post's cuts. "For many decades, the Washington Post was the go-to place for sports for Washingtonians," Ginsberg said. 

"That's not an option now, and we want to make sure that people understand that The Athletic can be one." He added that the additions will deliver "unparalleled coverage" of local teams and broader sports interests.

The Washington Post, owned by Jeff Bezos, eliminated its dedicated sports section in early February 2026 as part of sweeping layoffs that affected about one-third of the company's workforce. The move shuttered a traditional powerhouse in local sports journalism, reassigning some reporters to broader cultural or feature roles while ending routine beat coverage of teams like the Commanders, Nationals, Wizards, and Capitals.

The six journalists bring deep institutional knowledge and accolades, including Buckner's recent APSE column wins and Svrluga's more than two decades shaping D.C. sports narratives. Their rapid transition to The Athletic, a subscription-based platform owned by The New York Times, underscores the ongoing industry shift toward specialized digital sports media amid broader challenges for legacy newspapers.