WOMEN'S WEAR DAILY's Alexandra Steigrad reported Deadspin's John Koblin has been hired by the N.Y. Times "as its next Styles reporter." Koblin while at Deadspin "focused primarily on writing news and features on ESPN and sports media." His last day at Deadspin will be Jan. 6, and a Times internal memo stated he will join the paper "early next year" (WWD.com, 12/18). SI's Richard Deitsch noted Koblin "covered ESPN like the Pentagon." Media writer Ed Sherman posted, "Deadspin now in market for another writer to take down ESPN" (TWITTER.com, 12/18).
GENIUS OF LOVE: The NFL said its "Fantasy Genius" feature on NFL.com, offering fantasy advice and influenced in part by crowdsourcing and online message boards, received 1.9 million questions during the course of the season, with 17.5 million answers given back by the online community. Many leagues across fantasy football are playing their championship games this weekend, and an NFL.com team, dubbed "America's Team," guided entirely by the Fantasy Genius is playing in the finals of the NFL.com Experts Fantasy Football League. Fantasy Genius debuted in July, allowing users to get their teams rated, ask questions, and offer advice to other players (Eric Fisher, Staff Writer).
INSIDE INFORMATION: The Atlantic 10 Conference announced that it has formed a partnership with Campus Insiders, allowing the digital college sports network to show 27 basketball games. The slate of games will consist of 18 contests as part of an A-10 media rights package, plus an additional nine Fordham Univ. games. The league also will air those games on SportsNet N.Y. as part of an existing deal with the RSN. The Campus Insiders deal supplements the A-10 media rights packages currently held by ESPN, CBSSN and NBCSN (Atlantic 10).
