The New York Times has announced they are disbanding their sports department, containing more than 35 journalists and editors.

The Gray Lady said it will be leaning on The Athletic, purchased by the Times in January 2022 for $550 million, for its coverage of teams and sporting events. An email from The Times’ Executive Director Joe Kahn and Deputy Managing Editor Monica Drake told the Times newsroom that they would “scale back the newsroom’s coverage of games, players, teams and leagues,” an announcement states.

The company’s current sports desk staffers, according to The Times, will shift to other newsroom roles and no layoffs are anticipated. A business desk group will focus on the financial and power aspects of the sporting world, The Times said.

A letter from The Times’ sports department, signed by 28 members, was published in the company’s Sunday paper and asked for clarity about the rumored elimination of the department.

“We have watched the company buy a competitor with hundreds of sportswriters and weigh decisions about the future of sports coverage at The Times without, in many instances, so much as a courtesy call let alone any solicitation of our expertise,” the missive read.

The Athletic, a subscription sports company, will be taking over “a bulk” of The Times’ sports coverage, the company announced.  The Athletic announced in June that they would be laying off roughly 4% of the company’s 450-person newsroom.

Before being purchased by The Times in January 2022, The Athletic saw annual losses of $55 million in 2021. According to the Associated Press, they lost roughly $36 million last year.

Subscribers of the NYTimes.com also have access to stories done by The Athletic, which operates outside of The Times’ newsroom, according to the company.