Yahoo, Rivals Execs Decline Comment On Possible Acquisition

By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

Execs for both Rivals.com and Yahoo have declined comment on a report from paidcontent.org that the Internet portal would buy Tennessee-based Rivals.com for as much as $100M. Yahoo Sports VP & GM Jimmy Pitaro called the report “rumor and speculation,” and declined to comment further. Rivals.com COO Bobby Burton also declined comment. Industry sources close to Rivals.com pointed to a deal not being done, but talks are at a serious stage. The apparent discussions, however, are far from the first time Rivals.com, a popular supplier of college sports and recruiting news, has been the object of interest by a larger media operation. Rivals.com has been eyed by both Yahoo and AOL over the past several years. But techcrunch.com this morning reported that a derailment to those talks stemmed from a ‘98 securities violation by Rivals.com CEO Shannon Terry. Terry was forced by the SEC to make restitution of $828,000 for violations of federal anti-touting and antifraud provisions while working as an analyst for SGA Goldstar Research in Nashville. Terry declined to respond to numerous messages from THE DAILY and SportsBusiness Journal. The Yahoo-Rivals.com deal, if consummated at that $100M figure, would far exceed the $60M Fox Interactive Media paid in ‘05 for Scout Media.