Union representing New York Times staffers urges company to abandon Kalshi-Athletic deal

The NewsGuild of New York – a union representing staffers from The New York Times – sent a letter to Times Publisher AG Sulzberger and The Athletic Publisher David Perpich urging the company to nix any potential collaboration with Kalshi. 

Having also been addressed to senior editors of The New York Times and The Athletic, the letter was unanimously approved by the Times Guild Unit Council and The Athletic's contract action team prior to being sent. 

"Any partnership between Kalshi and The Athletic would threaten our journalistic independence across the company,” NewsGuild of New York said. 

"Despite management's claim that The Athletic and The New York Times are separate business entities, the journalism and the work are intertwined, as any reader can see."

The union went on to criticize and object to any agreement with Kalshi which extends past traditional advertising integrations, including providing the operator’s products or odds directly through The Athletic. 

While The Athletic confirmed it would not form a sports betting or prediction markets deal with Kalshi, an advertisement-based collaboration is still in play along with other commercial opportunities. 

The Athletic had previously partnered with BetMGM for sports betting integrations across its digital platforms, and began discussing a potential agreement with Kalshi in August. 

At the time of writing, representatives from The New York Times, The Athletic and Kalshi have yet to speak on the union’s letter, although a spokesperson for the operator described its services as a “great complement” to media organizations. 

Kalshi has already struck deals with Fox Corporation, the Associated Press, CNN and CNBC to help extend its presence across nationwide news coverage. 

In a blow to Kalshi’s sports-related contract markets, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) requested the operator remove all trades tied to player injuries on September 1, as well as the duration respective athletes would be unable to play for. 

As part of the CFTC’s proposed rules for sports event contracts in June, the Commission wrote that trades related to injuries “create perverse financial incentives” and raise “public interest concerns about the confidentiality of medical information.”