The Arena Group (AREN) said it has made two key management moves involving its sports businesses and growth strategies.
The media company said it has named Chris Pirrone to a newly created position as senior vice president/general manager of sports at The Arena Group.
Pirrone will oversee Sports Illustrated as well as the portfolio of sites in the Sports Illustrated media group, including Fan Nation.
Pirrone, formerly general manager of the USA TODAY sports media group, is set to join the company later this month.
"Chris Pirrone is a welcome addition with a phenomenal track record at USA Today Sports Media including six-fold audience growth, constant revenue innovations, and the growth of dozens of successful sports properties such as For The Win and Golfweek," Rob Barrett, president of media for The Arena Group, said in a statement. "We are thrilled to have Chris lead the next wave of innovation at Sports Illustrated and The Arena Group’s sports vertical," Barrett added.
Separately, Matt Lombardi was promoted to senior vice president, growth.
Lombardi joined The Arena Group last year when it acquired The Spun, a sports media company he founded.
Since then he had been serving as VP of sports growth, head of the breaking news desk for SI.
“Matt and The Spun team have been instrumental in our company’s rapid growth over the past year,” The Arena Group said in a statement. “He has mastered the dynamic between publishing, algorithm-driven channels that are the effective new home pages for users, and monetization.”
Lombardi will continue to oversee The Spun and SI’s breaking-trending news desk, according to the statement. In addition, “he will oversee trending content operations across all Media Brands sites and channels.”
TheStreet.com, the publisher of this report, is owned by The Arena Group.
