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Penske Media Corp. said today it is launching Sportico, a “digital content platform” focused broadly on the business side of sports.
Dick Glover – a long-time executive with ESPN, other parts of Disney, and NASCAR – will serve as president and CEO. Scott Soshnick, who covered sports business for 27 years with Bloomberg News, will be editor in chief and head of content.
For now, they are the only two employees, though Soshnick said in an interview that “the first order of business is to assemble a Dream Team staff.”
More importantly, that staff will take a broad view of what counts as “sports business,” Soshnick said.
“There’s a reason that sports gets its own section of the paper,” Soshnick said. “However, the games are just the centerpiece of multibillion-dollar businesses. You’ve got real estate, media, technology, stadium construction, finance. It’s no longer just about the games. Teams and franchises are tentpoles for bigger portfolios.”
Los Angeles offers plenty of examples of such massive, multi-headed ventures: the Staples Center and L.A. Live, built by Phil Anschutz and AEG, and home to the NBA’s Lakers and Clippers, and NHL’s Kings; the Guggenheim Partners-backed Los Angeles Dodgers; Clippers owner (and former Microsoft CEO) Steve Ballmer’s plan for a tech-driven new arena for his team; and Stan Kroenke’s $6 billion development of a new stadium complex for his Los Angeles Rams.
And that’s just the team owners. Soshnick said players such as Lebron James, Steph Curry, Andre Iguadala, Kevin Durant, Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson are among the many who are themselves significant moguls. They’ve leveraged the money and fame they’ve made playing a game into investments in tech startups, apparel, media production and much else.
Sportico is U.S.-based, but Soshnick said the publication also will cover the business issues around major international sports sectors such as the Olympics, soccer, Indian Premier League cricket and Formula 1 racing.
The staff also will write about esports, a burgeoning sector increasingly interwoven with more traditional sports ventures in terms of investors, advertisers, venues and more. And the business of sport gambling, a giant sector overseas, will become ever larger in the United States as additional states legalize it, and teams, leagues and media companies jockey for a slice of resulting revenues.
Soshnick declined to commit to specific staffing levels or structures, but said, “I’m confident in saying we will have more than enough people to do the industry justice. We will do our best to cover the sports world on a global basis.”
For all the potential areas of deep coverage, Soshnick acknowledged the announcement comes at an extraordinary time, when just about every sport other than some esports leagues is on hold for at least weeks, if not months to come, because of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
“Even so, while games are not being played, this is a huge business story far beyond the game,” Soshnick said. “ Whether (the pause in live sports) is two months, four months, five months, we don’t know when, it’s all material for sports business coverage.”
He said the publication hopes to begin posting some stories by June or July, with a full slate of coverage soon thereafter.
Penske Media Corp. is headed by Chairman and CEO Jay Penske, youngest son of racing giant and billionaire Roger Penske and himself an auto racing notable, having headed teams on the NASCAR and Formula E circuits.
But Jay Penske also has built a significant collection of media assets under PMC, beginning with a string of entertainment publications, including trade pubs Variety, Deadline and IndieWire (author note: I have previously worked for or contributed to all three), as well as Rolling Stone, TV Line, Hollywood Life and Gold Derby. Other notable media holdings include executive lifestyle publication the Robb Report, mobile-tech website BGR and fashion trade publication WWD.
Penske said in a release that, “We are truly excited about becoming the preeminent information destination for the $500 billion sports industry. This launch is consistent with Penske Media Corporation’s long record of success in business-to-business and consumer publishing ventures. Sports enables us to complement our technology, entertainment, art, music, fashion, media and lifestyle properties.”
