Michael Russo: Russo leaves Star Tribune; to join The Athletic

[BagHead]

Sounds like people really think it's The Athletic he's going to? I'll wait to see something official, but either way I hope he's covering the Wild, still. If he isn't, we've got a huge gap in hockey coverage in this state. I wouldn't even read anyone else's Wild reporting while Russo was on the job because nobody else came close to getting as good of a take and as accurate of reporting as he does.

 

[Dee Oh Cee]

If it is the athletic, I'll definitely be getting a subscription.

 

[Hall of Faber]

God I hope so. Because every other journalist in this town sucks in terms of covering hockey. When he had days off and what's her face was covering for him, she'd tweet maybe one or two times during a game. She'd just go missing. No updates, no info, no personality. It was beyond pathetic. If he doesn't cover them, we're TRULY on our own.

Graff has a bright future. I think he would come back if Russo leaves. If Russo leaves entirely I feel like Chad studied what Mike did to be successful and will duplicate that pretty well.

 

[Double]

Graff has a bright future. I think he would come back if Russo leaves. If Russo leaves entirely I feel like Chad studied what Mike did to be successful and will duplicate that pretty well.

You are aware Graff was pretty much taken off the Wild beat last season by the Pio Press, right?

 

[Hall of Faber]

You are aware Graff was pretty much taken off the Wild beat last season by the Pio Press, right?

Hard to gather all the context but I had the feeling it was more on his own terms. He said it was to much work to just be in Mike's shadow.

 

[MuckOG]

Hard to gather all the context but I had the feeling it was more on his own terms. He said it was to much work to just be in Mike's shadow.

It's Russo's world, we're just living in it.

 

[RangerBoy]

Craig Custance is starting an NHL section/portal on The Athletic. Mid-September kick off.

 

[ThatGuy22]

What is The Athletic, exactly?

From browsing their site, it looks like all the country's various sports pages mashed up into one.

It's subscription based online local sports section basically. They hire high quality writers with the thought of if the quality is there, people will pay for it. They tend to launch by the city and cover all the teams in the city, and they seem to have a pretty good hockey bent even though they cover all sports. They've been pretty limited on "national" sports news, although I think they are expanding into that a bit more.

They've hired a lot of quality NHL writers. Mirtle, JT Bourne, Dellow, Rutherford, Custance, Portline, now Russo.

It's about 50 bucks a year at the moment, or 10 bucks a month. I hadn't signed up because they didn't have a Minnesota version and they've been relatively limited in their national work, but I probably will shortly.

 

[Minnesota]

He'll be missed.

 

[Vashanesh]

If he ends up at The Athletic, and stays in MN? I'll pay for it.

There's already a decent collection of talent there, and if there's a local option, that's compelling.

It's also been out there on twitter that the podcast will continue, so I have to assume he's staying here in one capacity or another.

 

[Twoods1623]

Got a direct message via twitter from Russo saying "Thx. Not leaving and very little will change. Please stick with me and stay tuned." So I'm guessing he's involved with The Athletic.

 

[SomethingGeneric]

Got a direct message via twitter from Russo saying "Thx. Not leaving and very little will change. Please stick with me and stay tuned." So I'm guessing he's involved with The Athletic.

I don't feel very special about the twitter message I recieved this morning from him

 

[Twoods1623]

I don't feel very special about the twitter message I recieved this morning from him

Neither do I now. Well at least we know he's going to be around and not just leaving us.

 

[gphr513]

Got a direct message via twitter from Russo saying "Thx. Not leaving and very little will change. Please stick with me and stay tuned." So I'm guessing he's involved with The Athletic.

I don't feel very special about the twitter message I recieved this morning from him

So what, did he just DM all of his followers?

 

[Goose312]

Conjectured in a tweet to him that he was going to be launching @TheAtlanticMN and got a message back to wait for a discount code.

 

[Goose312]

So what, did he just DM all of his followers?

Check his replies over the last day or so. He's been responding to every one of the 1000+ replies to his tweet about leaving Star Trib. Guy cares about his followers.

 

[57special]

Check his replies over the last day or so. He's been responding to every one of the 1000+ replies to his tweet about leaving Star Trib. Guy cares about his followers.

cause they are his meal ticket.

 

[Jacques The Mayor]

Conjectured in a tweet to him that he was going to be launching @TheAtlanticMN and got a message back to wait for a discount code.

Be sure to post the discount code.

 

[Goose312]

Well I'm assuming it will be something along the lines of when he gets formally announced with the Athletic he will have a referral code or link that provides a discount and gives him a bit of a referral bonus. I would think it will be tweeted.

 

[jackouu]

Ohh Russo will be truly missed! Best of luck to him in whatever he does next.

 

[TaLoN]

Big shoes to fill at the Strib...

Need to know his new Twitter handle when it changes...

 

[ThatGuy22]

cause they are his meal ticket.

Especially know when he's got to build a AthleticMN subscriber base from scratch, and he's likely the "headliner" for the site.

I wonder if they'll get any other well known writers for the other sports. AP Sports Guy for Wolves/Twins/Vikes? Gleeman for Twins?

 

[Minnesota]

Pronman just joined The Athletic as well. This publication's going to be a monster.

 

[ThatGuy22]

Pronman just joined The Athletic as well. This publication's going to be a monster.

Yep. Just pulled the trigger when I saw that. I've paid for ESPN insider mostly because I enjoy his work. Time to cancel that.

 

[gphr513]

Looks like they also offer free trials. I will definitely sign up for the free trial if/when they launch the MSP version. Especially if Russo is there.