One of the more fascinating sports media stories out there is a potential sale of The Athletic.

The CliffsNotes version is that the subscription website is looking for a buyer, but has yet to find one. Potential suitors have explored a purchase, but nothing concrete yet, though A.J. Perez and Michael McCarthy at Front Office Sports are reporting that The New York Times is back in for round two of discussions:

The two companies were unable to come to an agreement in June, and The Athletic has since hired investment banking firm LionTree to facilitate a sale. Talks over the summer stalled as reps for The Athletic had issues with the stock/cash split and how long the buyout would take to complete, one source said. 

The Athletic has a valuation of about $500 million, although the site is seeking as much as $800 million in a sale. The website — which will hit its six-year anniversary next month — has yet to turn a profit. 

Of all the potential suitors from Axios to gambling companies like DraftKings, The New York Times buying The Athletic seemed to make the most sense, according to experts. Both are built in a subscription model and the Times is seeking to aggressively grow its subscriber base. 

It’s all very interesting. The Athletic expanded rapidly and aggressively, with 10,000 “Why I’m Joining The Athletic” stories hitting your feed. They hired everybody under the sun and covered everything out there with detail. Basketball, football, Premier League, etc. But there’s been some reshuffling as the company looks to solidify its footing and settle into a sustainable model.

Locally, Derek Bodner recently left to start his own website, so we went from three Sixers writers to just one. The other sports are covered by  Zach Berman and Bo Wulf (Eagles), Matt Gelb (Phillies), and Charlie O’Connor (Flyers). Sheil Kapadia is more of a national NFL guy now and Meghan Montemurro left to cover the Cubbies for the Chicago Tribune.