One thing that Philly sports fans noted this week was that All City began putting more articles behind the paywall at PHLY. Some of the stories now have upleft bugs that say “Diehard Level” and indicate premium content:

PHLY, up until this point, had been offering most of its written content for free.* There was a $79.99 upgrade, which initially got you a free shirt annually, a discount on merchandise, access to a discord lounge, and other perks. That subscription tier is now tied into more of the content itself.

*got some clarity on this from Charlie:

What’s interesting is that we now have multiple paywalled sports sites in Philadelphia, and I think Brian brings up a good question on Twitter:

Can this market support three separate sports outlets? We’re talking PHLY, The Athletic, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. Notable, of course, is that PHLY poached key Athletic contributors, taking Zach Berman, Bo Wulf, and Charlie O’Connor. PHLY also tried to get Matt Gelb as well, who wound up remaining with a site that no longer has a Sixers writer but added Kevin Kurz for the Flyers and Brooks Kubena for the Eagles.


When you break out the value over each of these three outlets, you get the following:

PHLY

  • $79.99 annually
  • paywalled premium content (still plenty of free content)
  • free shirt each year
  • 20% off all merchandise
  • 20% off events
  • a diehard member card and sticker pack
  • access to exclusive discord lounge
  • exclusive merchandise
  • no advertisements

The Athletic

  • current offer is $1/month for 12 months, then $7.99/month afterward
  • Matt Gelb, Kevin Kurz, and Brooks Kubena locally
  • national contributors who can go Philly-centric, like Jayson Stark
  • access to every writer for every sport globally (Premier League, fantasy sports, NFL draft, etc)

The Inquirer

  • unlimited digital access currently priced at $1 per month for 6 months, then $5.49 per week thereafter
  • full sports staff, including Jeff McLane, Mike Sielski, Marcus Hayes, Keith Pompey, David Murphy, etc
  • access to every other non-sports Inquirer article as well

The Inquirer certainly has the largest local staff. There are 15 full-time reporters and three full-time columnists, plus a group of eight editors. Your Inquirer subscription also provides access to every other desk as well, so you can read the hard news, opinion, and feature writing. There’s no sports-only option, so when you sign up, you’re getting everything. This is probably the best blend of Philly-centric news across all topics.

The Athletic isn’t very robust these days, and has seen most of the first wave of local staff depart, but Gelb is considered one of the top Phillies guys, and if you’re more interested in reading national sports instead of local news, then you’ll find a lot more value in The Athletic. Anything sports-related you want to read, you’re going to find it there.

And PHLY’s perks are a little more unique. The staff is large enough, with dedicated writers for every sport, though you’re not getting the extra news coverage or national sports coverage for your subscription. What you’re getting is more tangible and interactive stuff, like those merchandise discounts and events like watch parties at the various arenas. It’ll be curious to see what goes behind the paywall and what doesn’t.

To Brian’s point above, if you’re interested in supporting local, but not sure if you can afford all three, once your promotional periods are over, you’d be paying $263.50 annually for the Inquirer, $95.88 for The Athletic, and $79.99 for PHLY. That’s $439.37 in total, and then maybe you’re supporting an independent writer with a substack, or paying for paywalled non-sports content, like the Philadelphia Business Journal. It does add up rather quickly. And that’s not even mentioning ala carte entertainment content, like Disney+, Max, Peacock, PA online casino, or similar. The pie is large and has many slices.

Ultimately, the value probably comes down to what you’re looking for individually, or if you like a specific writer. But with PHLY moving more of its content behind the paywall, there’s now more saturation in this area, locally.