Fox Sports sells Scout.com

[alanpagerules]

Apparently the buyer is none other than Jim Heckman, who ran Scout.com until 2005 when he sold it to Fox for $60 million.

Here's a link to a story for those interested: http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2013/11/11/Media/Scout.aspx

 

[lantaur]

Tweet from Darrell Rovell:

Scout.com sold by Fox to North American Membership Group for undisclosed sum.

 

[boundforboston]

Does this mean recruiting sites aren't doing that well?

 

[Dick Whitman]

Does this mean recruiting sites aren't doing that well?

I'd love to know the state of that industry, as well. When I left my college beat, in 2008, it was pretty much understood that they were both printing money because they had found a niche market that required a national infrastructure to do well, and that hobbyists would actually pay for.

 

[HappyCurmudgeon]

I think the market is still surviving but there isn't much new money coming in. If someone has been a Rivals subscriber for a long time they are probably still a subscriber but there aren't many new subs coming in these days because the same information is readily available for free. SBNation, Bleacher Report, local newspapers are all doing recruiting and giving away the same info for free.

 

[TigerVols]

I think the market is still surviving but there isn't much new money coming in. If someone has been a Rivals subscriber for a long time they are probably still a subscriber but there aren't many new subs coming in these days because the same information is readily available for free. SBNation, Bleacher Report, local newspapers are all doing recruiting and giving away the same info for free.

The local newspaper that covers one of the teams I am interested in (you get two guesses!) has partnered with a pay-site for everything, even game stories.

 

[Cigar56]

This is a good move by Fox. From looking at the numbers in the story, it appears this is a pretty small business with little growth. Chances are Fox isn't paying much attention to it, so the company is better off with owners who really care about the product and the space. My guess is that Fox is pretty much giving it away just to get rid of it.