The Big Lead Purchased By Fantasy Sports Ventures

We learned about this last night in a story by Richard Sandomir of the New York Times. When a blog is bought out by a big company, it always has other bloggers seeing dollar signs. In this case of The Big Lead being purchased by Fantasy Sports Ventures (Fang’s Bites is a member of the FSV network as you can see from the banner above), it makes me quite happy. First, I know Jason McIntyre who’s run the blog for about a year now and he’s become a friend. Second, I’m glad to see a blog do well as in the case of The Big Lead which has over 3 million page views a month. Third, Jason proves that if you provide good content, you will be recognized. And fourth, I like when a blogger gets “F.U.” money. Jason will definitely have that as he will continue to run the site for Fantasy Sports Ventures.

We have a release and you can read it below.

FANTASY SPORTS VENTURES (FSV) ACQUIRES THE BIG LEAD,

ONE OF THE WEB’S MOST INFLUENTIAL SPORTS SITES

 

Enhances FSV’s Leadership Position as #1 Independent Online Sports Property in U.S.   with more than 15 Million Unique Users  

 

NEW YORK, June 2, 2010 – Fantasy Sports Ventures (“FSV”), the largest independent online sports property in the U.S., today announced that it has acquired The Big Lead.com, one of the web’s most influential sports sites.  Founded and published by Jason McIntyre, The Big Lead provides distinctive coverage of sports news, personalities, and media.   The Big Lead joins a family of other FSV owned and operated web sites such as Hoopshype.com, the leading independent voice for pro basketball news, Baseballhq.com, the top fantasy baseball analysis site, and Kffl.com and TheHuddle.com, two of the most respected and followed independent fantasy football content sites.  In total, audience from FSV’s owned and affiliated web sites now exceeds 15 million unique users per month (comScore,  April 2010), placing FSV #5 in the U.S. among all sports sites and #1 among sites not owned by major media companies/sports leagues.

 

“Jason McIntyre has created one of the most compelling sports news and pop culture sites on the web, and we are very excited to work with him and his team at The Big Lead,” said Chris Russo, CEO of Fantasy Sports Ventures. “FSV continues to evolve beyond our fantasy roots into a destination where sports fans now enjoy the best independent coverage on any topic.  The Big Lead furthers this evolution and enables us to provide fans with a truly original and creative perspective on sports.”

 

“I look forward to working with FSV to take The Big Lead to a new level.” McIntyre added.  “With the added resources of FSV, we will bring new elements and features to the site while preserving The Big Lead’s independent spirit.”

The Big Lead has become the quintessential example of an independent blog that grew well beyond its original incarnation, both in terms of content and popularity.  McIntyre, who previously worked in newspapers and magazines, founded the site in February of 2006 as a hobby, focusing on coverage of sports media personalities.  He ran the site anonymously until March, 2008 when his identity was finally revealed in an interview with Sports Illustrated.

 

Over the past few years, The Big Lead has grown dramatically in traffic and popularity via its coverage of sports news and events, sports media, and off-the-field pop culture and personalities.  McIntyre, an award winning journalist, has freelanced for ESPN.com, CBS Sports.com, ESPN Magazine, The Boston Globe, The Dallas Morning News and was a staff writer at The Record newspaper in New Jersey. 

 

One of the sites’ most popular features are its interviews with high profile figures in sports and media, ranging from sitdowns with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, NBC broadcaster Al Michaels, Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, the Washington Post’s Michael Wilbon and Fox broadcaster Joe Buck and many others.  The site has also been a lightning rod for controversy at times, most notably in 2007 when ESPN’s Colin Cowherd was scolded publicly by ESPN Ombudsman Leanne Schrieber after Cowherd implored listeners to crash the site following a critique of ESPN by McIntyre on the blog.    

The Big Lead has earned high praise and a high level following from the sports media world, and was selected by Sports Illustrated in 2009 as one of the five most influential sports blogs of the decade.

 

Following the acquisition, McIntyre will continue to run The Big Lead, serving as its Editor and General Manger.

Congratulations to Jason and this makes Fantasy Sports Ventures even stronger. Now if I can up my asking price to $3, I think someone may be able to buy me out…….