The Banner will expand its sports coverage to include Washington, D.C., teams, Editor-in-Chief Audrey Cooper announced in an internal email to staff on Thursday.

Sports journalists will be added to the team of Banner sports reporters to provide beat coverage of the Nationals and Commanders as well as enterprise reporting across the region.

The move follows The Banner’s recent announcement that it will expand coverage this spring into Prince George’s County, a Washington-facing jurisdiction that is the second-most populous county in Maryland.

Sign up for updates here.

Banner Editor-in-Chief Audrey Cooper:

I have exciting news to share: We are growing The Banner’s sports department to cover teams in the Washington, D.C., region.

This decision is part of our unwavering commitment to serve Maryland with honest, independent journalism. It builds on last week’s announcement that we are expanding our news coverage into Prince George’s County and represents another step in strengthening our statewide reach.

At a time when so much pulls communities apart, sports bring us together. The Washington Post’s decision to eliminate its sports section creates an opportunity for us to serve more Marylanders with The Banner’s distinctive mix of fearless accountability reporting, engaging storytelling and sharp analysis.

To support this expansion, we will add journalists to the ambitious team led by Chris Korman. They will deliver regular beat coverage of the Nationals and Commanders, as well as enterprise reporting on the Capitals, Wizards and Terps. Our coverage begins soon, with stories from the Nationals’ spring training in Florida.

Our research and internal data show strong interest in coverage of these teams, and we know that excellent sports journalism drives reader engagement and subscriber retention. Widening our scope of coverage benefits our current readers as well as future ones: The Washington-area teams have large fan bases in the Baltimore area, and vice versa.

Thank you for your continued commitment to building something exceptional.

Sincerely,

Audrey