SI and Fox Sports this week are launching a "transformational digital partnership" that will join two of the "most powerful voices in sports to set up and drive the deepest and most important conversations in the sports world in real time," according to a memo written by SI Managing Editor Christian Stone and SI Group Digital Editor Mark McClusky and posted on SI.com. The partnership, which was first reported in THE DAILY in August, is "more than a year in the making" and "between two digital properties and not a television one." Stone & McClusky: "There are no plans for, say, a Richard Deitsch-Clay Travis talk show, but we will bring together top talent for digital collaborations around Fox’s biggest TV events." As an example, SI's Tom Verducci and Fox' Ken Rosenthal will "preview the MLB playoffs in a special live MLB postseason edition of SI Now." Beginning with the NLCS, which will be "carried by Fox/FS1, Verducci and Rosenthal will be part of a Fox/SI co-produced pre- pregame show" that will be hosted by Fox' Kevin Burkhardt. On Friday, SI’s Andy Staples joins Fox' Joel Klatt’s college football live show to preview the Texas-Oklahoma game. People will also see SI's content on FoxSports.com, as well as both SI and Fox Sports social media teams "working together to keep you better informed about -- more deeply involved with -- the people, issues, and games that you love" (SI.com, 10/3).
