SI today is debuting The Crossover, its new NBA-focused website. Described by SI execs as a “spiritual brother” to the Peter King-led MMQB, The Crossover -- at
www.si.com/thecrossover -- will include news, features, analysis, podcasts and other multimedia content, as well as various elements of basketball culture and lifestyle. The Time Inc. brand originally contemplated creating a basketball-themed site during its unsuccessful pursuit last year of NBA columnist Adrian Wojnarowski. Plans moved ahead earlier this year to
create the site anyway and will feature SI writers including Chris Ballard, Lee Jenkins, Andrew Sharp, Jon Wertheim and Richard Deitsch. “There is no sport ... that generates a more spirited (and rational) Internet conversation than basketball,” SI Editorial Dir Chris Stone wrote in a letter introducing The Crossover in this week’s print issue of SI. “It has the best longform storytelling, the most organic connection to pop culture, and the most relatable, progressive discussions around analytics. Similarly, the NBA itself has the best, most open-minded leadership (and it’s really not even close), with a curiously rare understanding of the marketability and value of its players." The creation of The Crossover extends an ongoing strategy by SI to create new content franchises, one that also includes a new vertical devoted to technology and media in sports in partnership with SportTechie, as well as its SI Films, Swim Daily, Campus Rush and SI Play. State Farm has signed on as a launch sponsor for The Crossover.
