CHANGE OF OWNERSHIP AT SPORTING NEWS

(393) (6-September-2006)

Vulcan Sports Media prepared to sell but no price disclosed

Sporting News , a weekly sports oriented publication that agreed to pay $7.2 million to settle Department of Justice allegations that it promoted illegal wagering by publishing ads for Internet gambling sites, could be changing hands soon.

The owner of several sports-business publications, American City Business Journals Inc., said this week that it will buy the Sporting News and plans to study operations before deciding whether to keep the weekly magazine's headquarters in Creve Coeur.

American City is the parent of the weekly St. Louis Business Journal and similar publications in 40 other cities. It will acquire the Sporting News' print, online, book and radio operations from Seattle-based Vulcan Sports Media Inc., which is owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen . Neither of the privately held companies would disclose terms of the deal, but the magazine's estimated annual revenue is $60 million, according to business researcher Hoover's Inc.

The sale is expected to be completed in early October. Vulcan had been publicly searching for a buyer since February.

In a statement, Ray Shaw , American City's chairman and chief executive, called the Sporting News, which was established over a century ago, a strong brand with considerable upside on multiple platforms.

The CEO at Sporting News, Rick Allen , said he was excited by the opportunities that working for a larger media company would offer to the magazine's 200 employees.  "They will help us sharpen our strategy and more effectively go after advertising dollars on all those platforms," Allen said, speaking of the print, online and radio elements of the Sporting News.

Asked if the Sporting News would move out of the St. Louis area, Allen said he did not know, but that Shaw would analyse the magazine's operations in coming months.

American City also owns Street & Smith's SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily. It is a unit of New York-based Advance Publications Inc., owner of magazine publisher Condé Nast Publications.

Though widely respected for its history, the Sporting News' circulation of 704 906 places it well behind competitors Sports Illustrated and ESPN the Magazine. Those publications have circulations of more than 3.2 million and 2 million, respectively. Each publication also draws sizeable numbers on its website.

Founded in 1886 in St. Louis, Sporting News covered baseball, boxing, horse racing and theater  until 1910, when it focused primarily on baseball and was often referred to as the "Bible of Baseball."  In 1977 the magazine was sold to Times Mirror Co. by C.C. Johnson Spink, a member of the third generation of the family to run the magazine.

Keeping up with business trends and the times, in 1997 the magazine was redesigned and opened a website, sportingnews.com .

In 2000, Paul G. Allen's Vulcan Ventures Inc. bought the Sporting News, merging it later that year with another acquisition, One-On-One Sports Inc. radio network.