8. Rachel Axon, Sports Business Journal Staff Writer – Covering the Business of the Olympics
Farrell Sports Business Podcast
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Farrell Sports Business (00:00)
On this week's Farrell Sports Business podcast, we're going to look at the coverage of the business side of the Olympic and Paralympic games. We're going to talk to a writer for the Sports Business Journal who covers the Olympics, who also is a former investigative reporter and writer for USA Today. It's a really fascinating conversation looking at the trends of Olympic sports media coverage, some business stories with the Olympics and Olympic trials that she has her eye on.
debunking maybe my own conspiracy theory of what happens with media coverage at the Olympic Games and just generally get into trends about how the media and fans consume the Olympics and Paralympics these days.
I'm the host, Matt Farrell, and today's guest is the Olympics reporter for the sports business journal, former USA Today writer, Rachel Axon.
Farrell Sports Business (01:06)
Rachel, welcome. Glad you're here.
Rachel Axon (01:08)
Thanks so much for having me.
Farrell Sports Business (01:11)
Most listeners to this podcast will be familiar with Sports Business Journal, but can you describe your role in particular?
Rachel Axon (01:20)
Sure, so I am the Olympics reporter, which right now is a very busy time for us covering the business of Olympic sport. Lots of things going on as we sit here and talk and watching swimming trials and track is coming up and gymnastics after that and then the games themselves. So very busy, busy time of year on this beat.
Farrell Sports Business (01:39)
So how much, you know, maybe the topics are a little bit different from some of your past investigative reporting, your time at USA Today. Anything else that's really just substantively different about this role versus previous roles for you?
Rachel Axon (01:43)
Bye.
I would say a couple different things. Most of my career I've worked for daily newspaper website operations. So writing magazine stories, deadline, that's a little bit of an adjustment. The bigger adjustment is the focus of the beat, right? So I was at USA Today for 10 years where I covered the past five Olympics. There was much more commercial focused athletes results, some governance, some business, but that was not the primary focus of the beat. Obviously at Sports Business Journal that is. So.
you know, shifting that lens to finding stories, what those look like. Thank goodness I had experience in the Olympics because, you know, like as I tell everyone, I didn't have to learn the alphabet soup of acronyms that are common in the movement. But, you know, like the reporting is different, the type of stories, what we're looking for is different. So that's been a cool learning process.
Farrell Sports Business (02:40)
So true.
So much of sports business media is focused on the major professional leagues. And while the Olympics certainly gets covered, do you feel like you have to approach it a little bit differently with some background or primer? Covering the business of the Olympics, is it a little bit different in any way for you?
Rachel Axon (03:17)
I would say a couple things. And I have not covered a pro beat, so I'm like basing this off of what some of my colleagues and friends have done. I did previously cover college athletics too. One, the stakeholder base is just in my mind, much broader, right? You know, in a league you have a set number of teams, league offices, you know, agents and people around those athletes, but it's pretty confined.
ecosystem, right? NFL has 32 teams. The U .S. has 50 plus national governing bodies for every sport. Now, you know, like the size and the attention to those may vary, but that's just here, right? And then there's all these federations for every sport and, you know, collaborations or organizations, you know, with multiple national Olympic committees. And then, of course, the International Olympic Committee. So I would say.
you know, that's one thing that's different. It's very broad and how you work within that, you know, to be honest, I'm still figuring it out because I am one person, I can't be everywhere and everything to everybody. The other thing that I would say is different is, you know, in business publications, I would just say in media generally in our country, like, there's a much greater familiarity, I think, from readers about how the world of pro sports works as opposed to...
the world of the Olympic sports. And so I had this conversation with my editor all the time. I just filed the story before we got on this podcast and I'm sure he's going to be like, wait, what does this mean? Because there's so much about the Olympic and Paralympic world that I just know that's like unique to that world. But he goes, wait, wait, you have to explain this for everybody. What is this? What does that mean? And then I'll give him like, you know, a five minute explanation. He, you know, help help me fix it up with like three or four words. But I do think it is.
It is somewhat unique within this ecosystem of sports business compared to our pro peers.
Farrell Sports Business (05:10)
I sometimes speak to student classes and I've just got this cheesy slide of Shrek saying onions have layers. and I think people get fans, get the Olympic side, maybe, you know, maybe an international federation and they get the athlete side, but there are these interesting and sometimes confusing layers in between of a national governing body and an international federation.
Rachel Axon (05:18)
Yes. Yes.
Hmm.
Farrell Sports Business (05:41)
And so the way you describe and set up a story has to accommodate that in some way, shape or form, right? Do you feel like you've got to just fill in some background?
Rachel Axon (05:52)
I feel like sometimes, you know, I'll be writing something and we'll say like world athletics, the international governing body for track and field, you know, just those little explainer phrases that can help a reader understand. And you're right, there are layers to it. And there's things I sometimes have to explain about like what a national governing body does, what it does in a non -Olympic year, what happens, who is in charge in an Olympic year. I mean, there's just all sorts of different.
elements to it that I try to be cognizant, but honestly, having covered it for so long, I'm probably still, you know, that's why my editor checks me on this, to just make sure I'm not assuming knowledge that may not be there.
Farrell Sports Business (06:37)
This question is going to date me more than you, but I had a communications role with USA Swimming in the 90s. Every newspaper in the country, down to the Dallas Morning News, to whatever, had an Olympic beat reporter. And obviously that's changed over time. What are the trends in Olympic coverage, whether business or sport related? What are you seeing that's different today than maybe in the last decade or so in
Rachel Axon (06:41)
I'm gonna...
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Sure. Sure. I would definitely say what you're getting at there is size. You know, I came on to covering the Olympics. Sochi was my first one, 2014. And the media environment is just very difficult, different in general and difficult. You know, like if you look at the number of journalists, you know, a decade ago to now, it's fewer. And while there are exciting, like digital opportunities and things that we didn't used to have, there's been a lot of downsizing and...
Farrell Sports Business (07:07)
coverage of the Olympic sports.
Rachel Axon (07:35)
smaller or regional or major Metro papers may say like, you know, I'd rather have a third person on my NFL team than have a person in this role. So I think that makes it really challenging. I would also say when you're at the games, I mean, I certainly went through this when we were at USA Today, COVID had something to do with it, but you see smaller staffs. You just can't be, you know, everywhere. You can't be, unless you're, you know, one of the wire services, you're not covering everything. I would also say,
less coverage between games, if that makes sense, right? The Olympics and Paralympics are every four years, but these sports go on every year and have full seasons, you know, and world championships and all these sorts of things. And what I think is beneficial, but then also can make it challenging in the environment that we're in, that's really when you like do your really big investment as a reporter on this, you know what I mean? Like you need to be showing up.
outside of just Paris, Milan, LA, wherever the games are. Helps with sourcing, helps with finding story ideas, reporting story ideas, just so many things where that's beneficial. But because of the media environment we're in, there's often not the time or commitment to it. So I do think it is a changing thing. I hope there would be more, and my suspicion has been...
Over the next couple of years, more media organizations are going to wake up to the fact that there are two games coming to the US in the next decade. And we'll be trying to play catch up on that before those are the big stories in 2028 and 2034.
Farrell Sports Business (09:19)
Yeah, you, you hit on exactly where I was going to go. Could LA 28 in particular, just because it's shorter on the horizon, swing the pendulum back a little bit more, just beyond a USA today or an LA times, could it swing the pendulum back a little bit more in terms of consistent coverage with a us -based summer games?
Rachel Axon (09:26)
Mm.
Unfortunately, I don't know that the days of lots of papers having an Olympic writer are ever. I don't think they're ever coming back. Like just that commitment does not seem to be there. Now, do I think that there are organizations who may see, especially L .A., but, you know, eventually Salt Lake on the horizon and re -prioritize coverage areas, right? Someone does a little bit less of something else and takes on more Olympics in 2026 or 2027. Sure. But.
I mean, one, we'll have to see. Two, I don't think we're going back to, you know, the Louisville Courier Journal or Dallas Morning News or, you know, not to single those out in particular, but like those size and type of papers going back to having a full -time Olympics person and Paralympics. Yeah.
Farrell Sports Business (10:31)
So we're in the middle of Olympic trials season as we talk. What type of stories are, I'm not looking for anything confidential, Rachel, but it hasn't been released, but what kind of stories are you focusing on now and what type of Olympic business stories are on your radar as we get to Paris?
Rachel Axon (10:35)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Sure.
I could turn my computer here and show you my Post -it wall of everything, but I don't want to give away any secrets. I'll give a perfect example because this is going to publish soon. I just spent last weekend at Swimming Trials, which was a big event because they moved that event to an NFL stadium for the first time. And it was really cool to see the way that impacted the business, what happened around the trials, how that sets them up for the future.
I'll be at gymnastics trials reporting stories out of that. So I think there are trials related stories and then I would say a lot of what I'm doing now, we have a big Olympic preview issue. So it's like keeping tabs on trials while trying to prepare for when we're actually in Paris.
Farrell Sports Business (11:43)
So I have a theory, and I'm not asking you to confirm or deny it, but I'm just curious if it's, Matt, this is your crazy conspiracy theory or what. But every Olympics has something that is going on, whether it be Zika in Rio, human rights in Beijing, or.
Rachel Axon (11:56)
Okay.
Mm. Mm -hmm.
Farrell Sports Business (12:09)
Athens going back to 2004 are they going to be ready and should they really even be using their money on the Olympics? which to me just draws all of the air out of the room of Media who's not used to covering actual sport in in Olympics and so or or even if a person who I love dearly Ryan Lochte You know did what he did in Rio it just
There's this giant, you know, migration to cover these topics versus X and O's of sport. Is that a conspiracy theory? Do you see the...
Rachel Axon (12:50)
Mm -hmm.
Okay, I'm shaking my head no where in an audio medium. If someone, I was breaking some of that news on Ryan in Rio. I would say that it's a couple things. You are right. Every game cycle, there is something, right? Russian doping has spanned multiple game cycles. You know, Zika, Sochi, I remember everyone talking about like Black Widow, Spider, Terrorist, Bombers, which obviously ultimately didn't come to pass, you know.
Farrell Sports Business (12:56)
I'm gonna let you, I can see your body language. Yeah.
Rachel Axon (13:25)
on the Korean peninsula and Pyeongchang, you know, like everything there is something. I do think those are worthwhile news stories to cover. When there's nothing going on in the Olympics or what is going on in the Olympics is not interesting to media, then that's when you get kind of what feels like just like a drumbeat of news about things. I would also say...
look at the stories that come out during the games, right? If you were, and I'm not saying this is good or bad, but if you were reading positive, negative of coverage of the Olympics and Paralympics, you know, the athletes do a pretty good job of shining a positive light on this whole endeavor, even though there may be worthwhile questions about governance structure, finances, who's hosting, who has power. Those are all, I think, worthwhile news angles and areas of reporting.
But it's because there's not that competition, right? That you get those. I would venture to guess that, you know, we are in peak trials. You know, there have been trials and qualifying going on pretty much throughout the spring here and into summer. But we're kind of hitting the apex of that with swimming, track and gymnastics. You know, the biggest ones. I was watching diving last night, you know, like all these sports. There's competition to cover. So my suspicion would be that those.
governance away from competition issues that do get coverage are probably waning a little bit right now. I would expect in the preview you would see a lot of that. And when there is competition to cover, people will cover that.
Farrell Sports Business (15:07)
I'd like maybe just to shift a little bit about you at school, major first job. When did, when did things click of this as a path you wanted to go?
Rachel Axon (15:21)
Almost somewhat accidentally, I grew up near Buffalo in the early 90s and so I am a long tortured Bills fan and sports was just kind of always literally as far back as I can remember. Sports was a part of my life and I don't do anything halfway. So, you know, I was the kid in school who was like, I remember it was when the Buffalo Sabres were very good and I would keep like a book each season and I would.
watch the games and I would take just like quick notes of like who scored and who had the assist and who whatever and I would like keep my own stats and then I would, you know, depending on if they won or lost go in a specific color and keep this like binder together and all that kind of stuff. So I was always very into sports and then, you know, I was a pretty good student, like really enjoyed English and writing and so by chance, you know, a daughter of, you know, family friend had gone to journalism school and I was like,
that would be cool. You know, like I had sports center and constantly my parents had to make a rule about how much, you know, kind of cap it. And so I would say probably like my junior year, I was like, that that sounds like a good path. Like I'm going to be the next Linda Cohn before realizing, you know, I didn't really care to be on TV very much. And I was going to take my road test, of all things, to get my driver's license. And it was in the same town as St. Bonaventure.
and went and looked at the school and just said, OK, I'm done. You know, like I had considered Syracuse, but part of the appeal was how small St. Bonaventure was actually has a very good tradition of sports writers. As you may know, Adrian Adrian, Mojang, Oskie, Mike Carro to bond temps, a lot a lot of dear friends, but also excellent journalists coming out of the school. And so, you know, pick there, went there when I was in a student, it was my freshman year, they had a.
What at the time counts as a big NCAA scandal. You'll remember NCAA was going, investigating all people for like impermissible benefits and really got a chance of being on a big breaking news story that the country was talking about. And it was like, I'm done. I'm hooked. And so graduated from there and was just trying to find a job anywhere. Was a day away from taking a job in West Texas, which would have been a very interesting job, very Friday night lights, but.
not someplace I necessarily wanted to live in. A paper that I had been pestering down in Wilmington, North Carolina called and said, are you interested? So I turned down the job offer I had and said, okay, I'll come see you. Ended up there covering like high school preps, got my first taste of investigative reporting there and really grew to love that. And from there hopped to Orlando Sentinel covering the Florida Gators for not the good years I came after the.
After that, I was there for Urban Myers last year and Willem Leschamp's first year. So the start of some down times for that program and then moved on to USA Today where I was for 10 years and now at Sports Business Journal.
Farrell Sports Business (18:24)
Any key mentors in that timeframe, any key pivot points where it just added fuel to your career?
Rachel Axon (18:36)
Yeah, I would say a couple things. When I was in college, there was like this path where, you know, like they had the student newspaper, it was a weekly and you could work your way. I could have worked my way up to like running the whole thing, not just sports or going and working at the local daily in the sports department. And that's what I opted for. And I had an editor there, Chuck Pollock, who feels like a grandfather to me, but like really saw a talent in me and gave me a lot of leeway to do reporting as like a 20 year old journalist that like.
I think would have been hard to get in a lot of places. So I would say that in terms of pivot points, I think the biggest one for me, you know, when I was at that job in Wilmington, I had gotten a tip about this 60 year old high school football field house and was in a second store film room and there was a beam in the ceiling sagging like visibly and just thought like, I'm not a building person, but if a hurricane comes and this roof falls on this room I'm standing in, this room is above a locker room.
And I don't know building codes, but I know gravity and that could be very bad. And so did my first ever investigation, which ended up doing well, helped me get other jobs. But also, we published stories that the school had kept those kids in an unsafe building for a year and a half. And within a week, the school board had allocated $3 quarters of a million to knock it down and rebuild it. And it was just like, what I do could really.
matter. And so I would say like that was yeah like a really key really key pivot point for me.
Farrell Sports Business (20:11)
those are such great stories. Well, this may just be me personally, but I'm just, I feel like Paris is another pivot point just to, that's re -energizing the Olympic movement. And I know you have a ton going on, Rachel. So I'm going to ask a question that sometimes people in your business ask. Is there anything that I didn't ask you that you wanted to, wanted to add?
Rachel Axon (20:18)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.
I'm going to go to bed.
I asked that literally every interview because you know what came out of that? That fieldhouse story. No, I don't think they're saying anything I wanted to add. I do think this is an interesting time. You know, in the in the business of sports, the business in the Olympic movement, part of my coverage is how much of a pivot point, you know what Paris could be. Even if you take COVID out, which those where I was at, both of those are very challenging games. Those.
prior games since London. So the entire stretch that I have been on is, was extremely challenging for different reasons in each instance. And I sense and talk to people about all the time, this, it's not even excitement. It's like this pent up energy of anticipation of like, everyone's ready to just let their hair down and have a good time in Paris because it's been such a dredge for a while now. So that's something I'm reporting on.
If your listeners have examples of that, please have them reach out. But I think that's the overarching question this summer is where the Olympic and Paralympic movement look like coming out of those games.
Farrell Sports Business (21:41)
Well said, well said. Well, this is a pleasure and I know you have a lot to do in trials and Olympic season. And so, Rachel, I just want to thank you again for joining. I appreciate the time.
Rachel Axon (21:42)
Thank you.
Well, thanks for having me.
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