Renowned sports columnist Sally Jenkins expressed outrage Wednesday over the Washington Post’s decision to close its sports section.
“It’s like somebody taking a hammer to my heart,” she told The Ringer editor-at-large Bryan Curtis. “It’s not just broken. It’s broken into about 20 pieces, one for every single one of my close friends there.”
Jenkins, a Pulitzer Prize finalist for commentary in 2020, joined The Atlantic in the summer of 2025 after a lengthy career at The Post. The media company eliminated its sports department as part of a massive restructuring that saw one-third of the company’s staff laid off.
Executive editor Matt Murray announced that the sports section would be closing “in its current form.” A small number of reporters will be retained to cover sports as a cultural and societal phenomenon within the features department.
In its heyday, the Post sports section featured titans of sportswriting, including Thomas Boswell, John Feinstein, Michael Wilbon, Tony Kornheiser and Jenkins.
In a farewell note to The Post, Jenkins wrote,
“I will so miss the sweat, the adventure, and the unruly carping and bitching that hides our bone-deep devotion to the craft, and to this place.
“I see the glimmer of a new Washington Post — one that moves. It has to be right-sized, and young trees planted, but when the clocks all start chiming at the same time, it will be glorious (h/t: Poynter).”
Instead of glory, nearly the entire sports staff will be seeking something else: employment.