Ole Miss Trio Joins Network

A trio of Ole Miss media legends - a team site, team magazine and recruiting site - join TheInsiders, extend the network's lead in reach and secures its market dominance in the SEC.

SEATTLE, June 27 - For nearly a quarter of a century, Ole Miss Rebel fans have turned to The Ole Miss Spirit for their most trustworthy and timely coverage of University of Mississippi Rebel athletic news. Today, Spirit Publisher Chuck Rounsaville signed a long-term agreement with TheInsiders.com that will bring "The Ole Miss Spirit" Magazine, omspirit.com and SpiritRecruiting.com, along with more than 10,000 subscriptions, to TheInsiders network.

The deal secures for TheInsiders one of the final pieces for the media-credentialed market leader for every team in the SEC and Southeast. Last month, TheInsiders signed GatorCountry.com, the No. 1 site covering The University of Florida, which formed a partnership with Dave Stirt's "Fightin' Gators" Magazine. Today, Rounsaville will merge his top team site, omspirit.com, and magazine with the top Ole Miss recruiting site run by Yancy Porter. Porter, who is affiliated with The Spirit, began SpiritRecruiting.com five years ago and has seen steady growth each year.

"No other credible source or following exists for Ole Miss," said JC Heckman, founder and CEO of theInsiders. "The addition of omspirit.com bolsters what already is the strongest region for the network and has been the centerpiece of the company's successful strategy of pairing online with print subscriptions."

Rounsaville explained the move, saying, "TheInsiders is now the biggest independent brand in online college sports and they are the only network that supports print and online as one product. This is critical when it comes to credibility, access to athletic department venues and customer satisfaction. In the best interest of our customers and Ole Miss fans, I knew I was going to join a network eventually, but I waited to see who would win the 'network-battle' and only when the outcome was resolved, was I willing to take sides. Plus, as an SEC publication and website, there's no question TheInsiders controls the Southeast and SEC market. I'm the last of all the major publishers in this region to sign with TheInsiders."

"The other critical factor in joining TheInsiders is their ability to reach new customers in print and online through their strategic partners. Yahoo, Sports Illustrated, Fox and Sportsline display our team-specific content and marketing links to over 20 million sports fans. We want to grow our business and there's no way we could get that kind of reach anywhere else, certainly not on our own. TheInsiders has leveraged their online marketing power to sell over 40,000 new print subscriptions for their publishers while their competition has sold zero. I can't wait to get things moving and I just wish I'd started sooner."

"The Ole Miss Spirit" Magazine and omspirit.com join other notable Southeast print-online, college-team combinations in partnership with TheInsiders: 'Bama Magazine (Alabama), Hawgs Illustrated (Arkansas), Inside the Auburn Tigers (Auburn), CU Tigers Magazine (Clemson), Fightin' Gators (Florida), Dawgpost (Georgia), Inside Kentucky (Kentucky), Tiger Rag (Louisiana State), CanesTime (Miami), Inside Carolina (North Carolina), and Rocky Top (Tennessee). TheInsiders combines these team-specific media legends with the biggest names in southeast football recruiting, including Jamie Newberg, national editor and host of Fox Sports' Countdown to Signing Date, and Scott Kennedy, the top Southeast recruiting expert with TheInsiders, which now is partnered with nearly every significant media and recruiting asset in the region.

"The enormity of Chuck's websites speaks to the fact that he runs virtually unopposed in his market," Heckman said. "As anyone can expect, the competition for this relationship was significant. His additional subscribers further broadens our lead in every important category, including paid subscribers, unique users and total syndication reach."