ACBJ acquires Sporting News

Charlotte-based American City Business Journals, the parent company of 41 weekly business newspapers across the country as well as some other publications, is acquiring the Sporting News and its various units, according to a news release.

The deal includes Sporting News magazine, its online and book publishing units and Sporting News Radio Network. The seller is Vulcan Sports Media Inc. Terms of the acquisition, which is expected to be completed in early October, were not disclosed.

“Sporting News is a strong brand that we believe has considerable upside in print, online and on-air platforms,” said Ray Shaw, American City chairman and CEO.

The Sporting News’ publishing, online and radio network units were assembled through a series of acquisitions in 2000 and 2001. In 2000, Vulcan acquired the publishing and online units from Times Mirror Co. and bought the radio network operations of One-on-One Sports later that year. It added online fantasy games company Small World Sports in May 2001.

Vulcan is owned by Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft. American City Business Journals already owns the Street & Smith’s sports publications, which include the SportsBusiness Journal and Sports Business Daily and two publications devoted to NASCAR coverage — the weekly NASCAR Scene and the monthly NASCAR Illustrated.

Read more here.