Back in May, a sudden downturn in posting from long-time sports site The Big Lead became very clear. That came around parent company Minute Media’s acquisition of the rights to publish Sports Illustrated from SI owner Authentic Brands Group. And Minute Media eventually said they would “fold” TBL into SI, and many of the people who were writing there have since been writing at SI.com.
But now, Minute has sold the The Big Lead brand and domain to Chris Pirrone. Pirrone used to oversee the site when it was under the USA Today Sports Media Group umbrella, as he served as the general manager of that group from 2012-22. He then went to Arena Group (which held SI’s publication rights before Minute got them) from June 2022 through January 2024.
And Pirrone is now running his own C.P. Media Solutions consultancy, and has acquired the TBL brand and domain. He tweeted about that move Friday, piggybacking on a report from former TBL writer Ryan Glasspiegel (now at The New York Post):
The Big Lead has always been my daily read for trending sports, media and entertainment updates. I loved working with @jasonrmcintyre and @TheBigLead staff when I managed TBL from 2012-2019. I am excited to rebuild an essential sports media brand! 🚀 https://t.co/Cvqzw1oYby
— Chris Pirrone (@Chris_Pirrone) July 19, 2024
As of Friday evening, though, the latest post on The Big Lead remains a May 23 one from Stephen Douglas (now, along with many ex-TBL writers, writing at SI), titled “Jason Kelce Finally Cleaned His Garage.” And AA reporting indicates that a resumption of content isn’t imminent. No staff announcements have yet been made, and while several figures involved with the new TBL met briefly to discuss content plans Thursday, that’s not expected to lead to hirings or articles quickly.
How did we get here? Well, this started with Minute taking over SI publication rights from a deal struck in March 2024. Those rights had previously been held by Arena Group, and there was quite a messy transition there. And, around that, many of the new posts on SI.com in May in particular came from writers who had been at The Big Lead. That led to few to no new pieces on that site, including no posts in the eight days ahead of a May 18 piece here looking into what was going on there.
Shortly after that, TBL put up a few further posts. But on May 23, Mark Stenberg of AdWeek reported that Minute “folded its sports media franchise, The Big Lead, into SI, according to chief marketing officer Andres Cardenas.” And after that, TBL went dormant.
There was interest in the TBL brand and domain. That included a bid from AA parent Comeback Media. But Pirrone’s bid won out. And it’s significant to see that now publicly announced. We’ll see what’s ahead for the site, and if they decide to bring abroad the kinds of internet-experienced writers TBL was previously known for.
[Chris Pirrone on Twitter/X]
