How to Cancel The Athletic (2026)

Cancelling The Athletic is straightforward if you have a standalone subscription. It gets complicated if your access comes through a New York Times bundle, because you can't remove just The Athletic from that package.

Which subscription do you have?

This is the first thing to figure out. The Athletic was acquired by the New York Times in 2022, and since then NYT has been folding Athletic subscriptions into its bundle plans. You might have:

1. A standalone Athletic subscription (billed by The Athletic or NYT directly)
2. An NYT All Access bundle that includes The Athletic alongside NYT News, Games, Cooking, and Wirecutter
3. An app store subscription through Apple or Google

The cancel process is different for each.

Cancel a standalone subscription

1. Go to nytimes.com/athletic/settings and sign in
2. Find the Subscription section
3. Click Cancel subscription
4. You'll hit a multi-step retention flow. They'll show you what you're giving up, ask why you're leaving, and offer a discount. Click through each screen
5. Confirm the cancellation

Cancel an NYT All Access bundle

If your Athletic access comes through an NYT All Access subscription, things are more annoying. You cannot remove just The Athletic from the bundle. Your options are:

1. Cancel the entire NYT subscription at myaccount.nytimes.com/seg/subscription
2. Call NYT on 1-800-698-4637 to ask about downgrading to a plan that doesn't include The Athletic

There's no way to do a partial downgrade online. You need to call if you want to keep NYT News but drop The Athletic.

Cancel through Apple or Google

If you subscribed via the App Store or Google Play, cancelling on The Athletic's website won't stop the charges. You need to cancel through the platform you originally used.

iPhone/iPad: Settings > tap your name > Subscriptions > The Athletic > Cancel Subscription

Android: Google Play Store > Profile icon > Payments & subscriptions > Subscriptions > The Athletic > Cancel subscription

Current pricing

The Athletic bills in USD. Approximate AUD conversions at current exchange rates:

If you signed up on a promotional rate ($1/month or $24.99/year), that price has already jumped or will jump to the standard rate at the end of your promo period. Cancelling and resubscribing later means paying full price. The promo rates don't come back.

The NYT bundle trap

This is the part that makes The Athletic a "medium" difficulty cancellation. Since the NYT acquisition, many subscribers have been migrated or upsold into All Access bundles. If you only want sports coverage and signed up for All Access to get The Athletic, you're now paying $25 USD/month ($40 AUD) for a bundle where The Athletic might be the only part you use.

You can't surgically remove it. You either keep the whole bundle or cancel everything. NYT knows this makes you less likely to cancel.

Free alternatives for Australian sports

The Athletic's Australian coverage is limited. It covers Premier League football and has added some cricket content, but for AFL, NRL, A-League, and most Australian sport, you'll find better coverage elsewhere for free:

• ABC Sport covers AFL, NRL, cricket, and A-League with no paywall
• The Guardian Sport AU has solid free coverage of Australian and international sport
• Fox Sports publishes free articles alongside its subscription content
• ESPN AU for international sport and some Australian coverage

If you're paying for The Athletic primarily for European football coverage, the free alternatives are less comprehensive. But for Australian sport specifically, you're not losing much by cancelling.