An ownership group led by Alliance Baseball, LLC, completed its purchase of Baseball America, from TEN: The Enthusiast Network, as the group leverages its expertise in the baseball category to help grow the widely-respected baseball media brand to a larger audience within the sport.
The group, led by Alliance Baseball, LLC’s CEO Gary Green and President, Larry Botel, completed the purchase of what baseball insiders and fans consider the bible of minor league and amateur baseball. The publication has been the go-to outlet for nearly four decades for baseball news and insight at every level from the preps to the pros.
“We’re excited to take ownership of one of the great baseball media brands,” Green said. “No other outlet covers the sport so thoroughly and definitively as Baseball America. The talented staff gives readers everything they could want about the players they know and the ones they should. We can’t wait to help take the operation to the next level.”
By bringing Baseball America into the fold, Alliance Baseball, LLC adds another baseball property to its resume – through its subsidiaries, it already owns two minor-league baseball franchises: the Omaha Storm Chasers, the Triple-A affiliate of the Kansas City Royals; and the Richmond Flying Squirrels, the Double-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Green currently is the principal owner of the Storm Chasers, while Botel is the team’s managing partner, and each are general partners of the Flying Squirrels.
David Geaslen, founder and CEO of 3STEP Sports, a media and event company, will join Green and Botel on Baseball America’s ownership team. Geaslen, whose company produces content and events across several sports, will serve as president of the new ownership company, Baseball America Enterprises.
In addition to growing Baseball America’s bi-weekly print audience, Geaslen will help oversee the efforts to grow the outlet’s digital audience as well.
“We’ll continue to emphasize coverage in areas that our audience has come to depend on us for, such as the major and minor leagues, along with international coverage,” said Geaslen. “But we’ll also be looking to expand our footprint in college and high school baseball, as well as with nationwide baseball events.”
TEN: The Enthusiast Network sold the baseball brand to better focus on its leadership position in Automotive and Action Sports, areas where it holds the #1 position by reach. Said Scott Dickey, CEO of TEN, “As storied and respected as Baseball America is, we believe the brand is best served in the hands of endemic experts, and that our path to growth and Digital transformation is in a focus on our Automotive and Action Sports portfolios.”
Baseball America’s new ownership group will continue to operate the publication out of its current headquarters in Durham, N.C.
The magazine, which was founded in 1980, had previously been owned by TEN: The Enthusiast Network, since 2011.
