Yahoo Buys College Sports Site Rivals.com

Yahoo has spent a reported $100 million to acquire the college sports site Rivals.com in the first deal under Jerry Yang.

Just days after Jerry Yang replaced Terry Semel as CEO, Yahoo has spent a reported $100 million to buy Rivals.com, hoping to broaden its base among college sports fans – and college sports, of course, are big business.   Although the deal has Yang’s signature on the papers, negotiations began while Yemel was still in charge. But, said Yahoo senior VP Scott Moore,   “Jerry is very excited about it.”   In addition to college sports, Rivals.com also covers high school sports. Much of its revenue comes from member subscriptions. Founded in 2001, it currently has 185,000 subscribers and 85 employees. More than two million people a month visit the site. By comparison, Yahoo’s sports section attracted 15.1 million visitors last month.   Interestingly, the acquisition will put Yahoo in direct competition with News Corp., which has just offered MySpace in exchange for a 25% share in Yahoo. News Corp owns Scout.com, which covers the same ground as Rivals.com.