byLarry EderIn one of the worst kept secrets in the business, SportNet, a Wasserman Media Group company, acquired Trackshark.com and its senior editor, Tom Borish. This is the third acquisition in the last month in the athletics web arena. There has been Disney and Student Sports, NBC and WCSN.com and now TrackShark.com. Combine that with the Competitor Group acquisitions by Falconhead Capital earlier this year, you have a busy year in the eye of the M & A types.
Reasons? Many? New technology makes it cost efficient to run meets, interviews, hi res video through websites. Viewers like it, advertisers like it. Watch how things pan out over the next few months.
SPORTNET RUNS WITH THE ACQUISITION OF TRACKSHARK.COM
Los Angeles, CA July 22, 2008 — Sportnet (www.sportnet.com), the world’s most comprehensive online sports network, has acquired Trackshark.com, a leading collegiate track & field website, it was announced today by Ron Bension, Chief Executive Officer of Sportnet and Tom Borish, Senior Editor of Trackshark.com. Sportnet is owned by Wasserman Media Group, a worldwide leader in sports management, marketing and content.
Sportnet’s robust production and technology capabilities will allow Trackshark.com to add high-quality video and event coverage to the site’s current content offerings. Now as part of Sportnet, Trackshark can expand its collegiate coverage to include online editorial and webcasting from the IAAF Golden League, USA Track & Field and other elite events.
“To provide track & field fans the opportunity to view coverage from all of the major collegiate, USATF and IAAF meets from a single, immersive digital platform is awesome,†stated Borish, “This is truly what the fans of our sport at the collegiate and professional level have been craving.”
“The addition of Trackshark.com to Sportnet allows us to expand in the track vertical and ultimately offer fans everywhere an end to end track and field online experience,†said Bension.
About Trackshark
Founded in 2002, Trackshark.com is the online leader in college track & field coverage. From exclusive on-site coverage of major meets around the country to blogs which give an inside view from the top student-athletes, to the many journalists and photographers around the country who provide original content, Trackshark.com is the definitive online resource for collegiate track & field.
About Sportnet
Sportnet is a network of sport specific verticals that serve a global community of athletes, fans and enthusiasts. The digital environment provides users with exclusive content, live event webcasts and cutting edge community tools, offering a consumer experience like no other within each sport. Partners include leagues, sanctioning bodies, TV networks, producers, directors and individual athletes. Sportnet is owned and operated by Wasserman Media Group.
