One of the best-known sports departments in the country, which produced some of the biggest names in sports journalism, is shutting down.
The Washington Post will be closing its sports department “in its current form,” executive editor Matt Murray is said to have told employees Wednesday, part of a broad restructuring that will result in massive layoffs across the newspaper. Some sports employees will be relocated to other departments, but all indications were that the overwhelming majority of staffers will not be retained.
The decision had been foreshadowed for weeks, with a steady drumbeat of reports signaling the active dismantling of the department — from the abrupt reduction of its planned on-site presence at the Olympic Games to entirely ruling out travel to events that would seem foundational to local coverage plans, like Nationals spring training.
The moves are in keeping with broader trends at The Washington Post, which has experienced any number of resignations and layoffs in recent months.
They are also in keeping with broader trends in the industry. The Pittsburgh-Post Gazette is shutting down entirely on May 3. More relevant to this particular circumstance, The New York Times eliminated its sports department in 2023 — shifting its sports coverage to The Athletic, which it acquired the prior year. But while that was a highly-controversial decision (particularly as staffers at The Athletic were not unionized at the time), ownership of The Athletic at least keeps the Times tethered to sports coverage. There is no sports vertical owned by the Post, which will simply cease to exist as a significant player in sports media.
There will still be some sports coverage at the Post, which intends to cover sports-related stories not on a daily basis but as a cultural phenomenon when warranted.
The Washington Post sports section is one of the most acclaimed in all of sports media, producing some of the biggest names in the industry — from ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon to the likes of John Feinstein, Sally Jenkins, Thomas Boswell and many more.
