Place Your New York Times Succession Bets

In their desperate hunt for new sources of revenue, some publishers have begun seeking solvency through one of the oldest business models around: gambling. At a conference hosted by The Information this week, Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini predicted that more sports sites would strike deals with betting apps. “I think that a lot of media companies are seeing a lot of betting dollars floating around, and they want a piece of those dollars,” she said. (Sounds like a pretty safe bet to us!)

The Fine Print sees a similar opportunity in New York media’s favorite guessing game, speculation about who will be the next executive editor of The New York Times. But, as we’re not (yet?) a licensed casino gaming operator, we’ll be using OTR$ bucks instead of actual money.

Here’s how the New York Times Succession Betting Pool will work: As a subscriber, you’ve been given OTR$ 1,000 to wager as you see fit. You can place your bets any time before The Times announces the next executive editor, all bets will be placed confidentially, use of insider knowledge is highly encouraged, and it is also entirely acceptable for candidates to bet on themselves (thank you for being a subscriber!). Whoever finishes with the most OTR$ bucks wins. And, yes, there will be prizes.

A few things to keep in mind:

• The way our odds work is that if someone’s odds are negative, that means that is how many OTR$ bucks you have to bet in order to win OTR$ 100. So for the front runner Joe Kahn, standing at -125 in our lineup: To win OTR$ 100 off a bet on Kahn, you’d have to put up OTR$ 125. For all the contenders with plus-odds, that number is how much you win if you bet OTR$ 100 and the candidate is named executive editor. An OTR$ 100 bet on deep long shot Ben Smith would net you a cool OTR$ 25,000.
• We won’t be publishing anything about individual bets — though you’re, of course, free to discuss your own bets with whoever you like — and welcome the use of (sensible) pseudonyms for our leaderboard.
• Bets will be placed at the odds offered at the time they are submitted and cannot be canceled.
• In case two bettors finish with the same winnings, we’ve created a tiebreaker: When you make your first bet(s), predict the date The Times will announce its new executive editor. The closest guess wins.
• You might not want to place all of your bets right away, as odds will be changing, based both on how bets are placed as well as at our discretion if external events merit it. We’ll keep track of how much you’ve bet so far, so feel free to hold back some of your OTR$ bucks to see how the succession picture develops.
• We won’t take any bets on candidates not listed on our odds chart, but we will gladly consider any new names if you make a good case for why they deserve a shot. Drop us an email!

The subscriber who amasses the most $OTR will receive: The Fine Print swag to be named later, three annual subscriptions to gift to your valued colleagues or loved ones, eternal bragging rights, and maybe a trophy.

The Fine Print’s staff is not eligible to win the betting pool, but to get the pot started, we made our own bets yesterday. Here’s how our wagers broke down:

To place your bets, fill out our handy form. For your reference, our current odds are below. Good luck!