40 Acres Sports

paidContent.org is reporting that Yahoo may be about to acquire Rivals.com for up to $100 million. The guys running Orangebloods.com are saying it’s not a done deal yet, but it certainly looks like its just a matter of getting the final dollar amount ironed out between the two companies.

You’re reading it here first: Yahoo is close to making its biggest sports acquisition after, well, the Broadcast.com deal: the college sports network Rivals.com, paidContent.org has learned. The price could reach around $100 million, which some we’ve spoken to say is overpriced, and that’s why the traditional sports media buyers are sitting out on this one. One exec involved in online sports acquisitions told us $50-75 million would be more realistic given a model that can—and has been—replicated and described the reaction to what Rivals was asking—$100 million—as “sticker shock.”

For comparison, FIM paid $60 million for Scout Media in September 2005.

The new acquisition would be a boost to Yahoo Sports, which has been looking for ways to catch up to the juggernaut of ESPN.com and the surge from FoxSports.com. It has an already-existing deal with Rivals.com for sharing sports content; Rivals also supplies content to USAToday.com, AOL Sports, SportingNews.com, MSNBC.com and SI.com.

Rivals is an incredible network of websites for college sports fans, and an Orangebloods membership is a must have for any hardcore Longhorn fan. They’ve got great writers at both the national and school level and their recruiting coverage is second to none. It’s probably the best ten bucks I spend every month. Hopefully Yahoo is simply looking to improve their college sports coverage and won’t be changing too much with the sites.

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