So Harry Psaros has left Rivals.com/PantherLair for Scout.com/PantherReport. He takes over as publisher.
Bob Lichtenfels has done an admirable job maintaining this site for two years. He is well known and respected and I look forward to working with him. As your new publisher, I plan on making a tremendous amount of changes. Look for a new name, new logo, new “look” and dramatically improved message boards. This site has sat in a state of atrophy for several years. That is about to change. There will be a steady metamorphosis over the next six months. I can assure you this site will dramatically improve.
There are many of you asking why I chose to jump to Scout.com. Upper management from the network has been in close contact with me for several months. We have had multiple in-depth discussions. Their vision of the future is aggressive and exciting. Scout’s affiliation with Fox Sports is bound to lead to bigger and better opportunities for this site (in addition to massive exposure). A myriad of Scout.com publishers took their time to contact me. I was highly impressed with family oriented atmosphere and sense of camaraderie between the publishers.
Things have quietly been getting interesting in the last six plus months for the recruiting sites. Scout.com and Rivals.com have had their sniping over time and various names, and people change sides all the time. It’s been recent, though, that real changes have been brewing. A lot started when ESPN/Disney started making noises. First was a ESPN The Magazine article over the summer that seemed to some as a hit piece on recruiting sites. Then came the further news about how ESPN.com was creating its own recruiting database and info under the name of Scouts, Inc. — and how a lawsuit over the names by Scout.com hasn’t occurred is beyond me.
Scout.com responded by letting itself be acquired by Fox Interactive Media, a part of the Fox media conglomerate. This gave Scout.com more reach and deeper pockets.
At this time, Rivals.com is still operating as an independent. There are still sports/entertainment media groups that could become involved with them. CBS Sportsline.com, which is owned by Viacom and recently acquired College Sports TV would appear to be the most obvious. Comcast/OLN is another possibility, as is Time Warner, and possibly even the Tribune Company. At some point they are going to need to have somebody behind them, if the fight for subscribers becomes more pointed.
2006 looks to be a year of potential shakeout and consolidation.
