Blog network SportsBlog Nation scores funding
The D.C.-area company is backed by former AOL and Yahoo executives. Facebook investor Accel Partners leads its most recent round.
A freshly minted blog network called SportsBlog Nation (or SB Nation, as it calls itself) has secured a round of funding in the "mid-seven figures," Sports Business Journal reported Monday.
Jim Bankoff, who once served as chief of programming at AOL, put the round together and will serve as chairman of the board at SportsBlog Nation, which boasts more than 150 blogs, each one dedicated to a different college or professional sports team.
The funding round was led by Accel Partners, best known these days for having been an early investor in Facebook; partner Jim Breyer holds a minority stake in the Boston Celtics. Also contributing were Ted Leonsis, former AOL vice chairman and owner of the Washington Capitals; former Yahoo executives Dan Rosensweig and Jeff Weiner; football-player-turned-private-equity manager Brent Jones; investment bank Allen & Co.; and several executives from Providence Equity Partners, where Bankoff is an adviser.
The Washington, D.C.-based SportsBlog Nation has been in development for about a year, Sports Business Journal wrote.