Wide Left is a newsletter covering the NFL at-large, the politics inside and outside of football and anything else Arif Hasan sees fit to write about. With a background in politics, debate and over a decade of experience covering the NFL, I hope to bring my unique perspective to the world of football. Please subscribe if you’d like to read more!

It’s been a weird journey becoming an NFL writer. I left a job doing direct advocacy and political lobbying to write about football. And, much to my surprise, I was able to go from covering occasional practices at training camp to covering the Super Bowl.

Without a college degree or a background in journalism, I got a crash course in sportswriting — both the highs and the lows. Credentialed access to games was an incredible positive, but the first-hand look at sports publishing was terrifying.

As with many industries, the drive to corporate consolidation has been accelerating. The terrifying fact is that this approach enforces a sameness of coverage and suppresses — directly and indirectly — deeper stories, complex thinking and writing critical of teams, players and media.

That’s what Wide Left aims to provide. I want to do the deep dives that SEO-driven models run shy away from while also evaluating the deeper power structures behind the game of football.

I plan to run 2-3 articles a week here for paid subscribers to access. On top of that, any of my work at other publications will be collated here and linked out, so you don’t miss anything that’s free and available. Free subscribers will get those alerts as well as any free articles — like quick reactions, unlocked premium articles and anything else that makes sense to share to a wider audience.

Founding Members will be able to join me for in-person subscriber meet-ups and subscribers will be able to participate in Q&As. If you have ideas for better coverage, let me know as well!

I’m excited to get started and I hope you’ll join me.