NBC Sports Group Completes Deal To Hire Joe Posnanski From Sports On Earth

NBC Sports Group has completed its deal to hire writer Joe Posnanski as a national columnist for NBCSports.com and contributor to the NBC Sports Group's other platforms. Posnanski, most recently with the MLBAM/USA Today Sports Media Group joint venture SportsOnEarth.com, will write three long-form stories per week on NBCSports.com, including a Friday column entitled "The Big Read." He also will contribute to NBC's other various sports sites, including its baseball blog Hardball Talk and the network's TV, radio and regional assets. His first column debuts Friday and is about Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez. News first broke in late January of Posnanski's departure from Sports On Earth, just five months after its formal launch. NBC Sports Group Senior VP and Digital Media GM Rick Cordella in a statement said, "Although Joe excels with the written word, an exciting element of this agreement is that it affords him the ability to communicate … through all the assets in the diverse NBC Sports Group portfolio."