Front Office Sports hires new top editor
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Front Office Sports
Front Office Sports, the sports business news outlet, has hired veteran business editor Daniel Roberts as its new editor-in-chief, executives told Axios.
Why it matters: It's part of a broader editorial and business expansion fueled by a minority investment in the publication last year by RedBird IMI.
- RedBird IMI is a joint venture between private equity giant RedBird Capital Partners and Dubai-based International Media Investments (IMI). It's run by former CNN boss Jeff Zucker, who co-chairs of Front Office Sports' board.
Zoom in: Roberts replaces Adam Duerson, who departed in May after joining the company last November.
- He will be tasked with continuing to broaden the outlet's focus to a wider set of sports fans who have become more interested in the business behind the scenes.
- "Dan's hire, as well as our broader strategic initiatives, are all part of being able to take advantage of the massive momentum surrounding this vertical," founder and CEO Adam White said, while noting how much more mainstream the business of sports has become as a topic.
- Previously, Roberts served as the top editor of a venture fund and the crypto news outlet Decrypt. He covered sports business at Yahoo Finance and Fortune.
Between the lines: The firm has also hired several new journalists to expand the outlet's focus from newsletters to more video and audio projects.
- The company is building a video studio in its Manhattan offices to use for long-form content and shorter videos for social feeds.
- White hopes to develop new video programs across social media and events geared around specific writers and their beats. For example, it plans to host a "Tuned In" Summit this year around coverage from senior sports media reporter Mike McCarthy.
Zoom out: The company is looking to collaborate more closely with other media entities within the RedBird IMI portfolio that focus on studio programming.
- For example, it's already working with RedBird IMI's Everwonder Studio on an upcoming documentary based on FOS' original reporting.
Catch up quick: Front Office Sports launched in 2014 as a newsletter and has since expanded to include a website, events, video and audio.
- The firm at one point targeted niche sports business executives with newsletters and paywalled insights. Today, it still publishes a twice-daily newsletter but is focused on a broader audience of sports fans.
The bottom line: "We believe the business of sports is the next evolution of fandom," White said.
