I know that for a lot of people reading this, there will be no need to explain why The Athletic is important, or how great it is that the site has expanded to Alberta. Over the last six months, I’ve been tagged again and again by sports fans asking editor-in-chief James Mirtle when Edmonton could expect its own version of the Toronto site.

The answer to that question is today.

For those who aren’t yet familiar with The Athletic, a brief explanation is in order.

The premise behind the site is simple but ambitious: It’s that interested readers will be willing to pay a modest fee for high-quality content. What this enables The Athletic to do is incredible. Unlike the vast majority of media enterprises, its focus can be entirely on the reader. There’s no need for a popup blocker because the site is ad-free. It’s not important to keep the volume down on your device because there are no auto-play videos.

Most importantly, there are no simple, click-bait articles here because we’re not satisfied with just getting you to open the page. This isn’t about luring readers in for a quick pageview; that’s of no benefit to us. It’s about providing something you can’t get elsewhere, something to justify the price of your subscription.

We’re going to get started on that right away. I’ll be writing frequent in-depth columns on the Oilers immediately. Allan Mitchell, perhaps better known as Lowetide, will be a weekly columnist. We’ll also have Sunil Agnihotri, Minnia Feng and (Black Dog) Pat McLean onboard as featured contributors.

I’m also thrilled that Eric Duhatschek is joining us as The Athletic‘s Western Canada columnist, a role that will include plenty of coverage of the Oilers and Connor McDavid this season.

Additionally, all subscribers to The Athletic Edmonton get access to every writer on the entire network of sites. On the hockey side alone, that includes columns from Pierre LeBrun, technical breakdowns by Justin Bourne, scouting reports from prospects expert Corey Pronman, analytics work by hockey stats pioneer Tyler Dellow and breaking news from a stunning list of the best local and national hockey reporters in the business.

This is also only the beginning. As subscriptions come in, we’ll be able to bring in more writers and offer more comprehensive coverage. Toronto started with a small staff, but because of strong support in the market, it grew rapidly.

It even made the case for expansion to other cities like Edmonton.

Having seen firsthand the incredible level of passion for the Oilers even in the team’s darkest days, it’s my belief that we’ll be able to do the same thing here. Let’s make a change. Let’s do things differently.

You can sign up at a 30-per-cent discount right here to help.

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