I Predict That Bleacher Report Will Buy The Ringer
And Bill Simmons Will Be The Face of B/R
In his podcast last week, Bill Simmons predicted that ESPN would buy The Players’ Tribune.
Awful Announcing wrote an article explaining why this is highly unlikely — the article essentially tears apart Bill’s prediction by explaining how ESPN could create their own version of The Players’ Tribune at a much cheaper cost.
So what motive is behind Bill Simmons giving this prediction?
Here’s my take.
Bill Simmons wanted to float this predicition because he knew that it would get people talking about potential sports publisher aquisitions and his ‘harmless’ predicition would find itself into the ears of the executive suits at Bleacher Report.
As the sports media “arms race” intensifies, Bleacher Report might want to make the first move and strengthen their content portfolio by looking at purchasing their own digital sports media brand.
Enter The Ringer.
Bleacher Report purchasing The Ringer actually makes sense for them and here’s why:
Sports + Culture
Bleacher Report’s CEO, Dave Finocchio, said he wants B/R to move away from sports news and move more into sports culture.
Well, The Ringer is known for being a site at the intersection of sports+culture. Their style fits the new direction that Bleacher Report is looking to head in so content-wise, its a perfect match.
Established Podcast Network
At this point, Bleacher Report has no presence in podcast so by purchasing The Ringer, B/R immediately buys itself an established network of popular podcasts which it can promote and broadcast on its new app.
Face of Bleacher Report
Untill this point, there’s never been a face to Bleacher Report.
Bleacher Report needs a well established, highly recognizable personality to represent their brand and there’s no bigger one in sports than the sports guy himself.
In fact, just a few weeks ago Bill gave Bleacher Report a shout-out which may be a coincidence or an early sign of things to come.
