Athlon Sports unveils new sports magazine

Athlon Sports Communication, Inc. (“Athlon”), the Nashville, TN-based integrated sports media company, announced April 23 that it will launch a monthly sports magazine in October 2010. Called Athlon Sports, the title is expected to debut with 7 million circulation, via daily newspapers, making it the largest sports magazine in the United States. Athlon Sports will profile America’s elite athletes, provide preseason insights from America’s premier sports editors, and tell compelling sports stories from around the country.

Athlon Sports will reorder the highly competitive sports category by offering advertisers a mass audience that is largely unduplicated by sports or men’s lifestyle magazines."Athlon Sports is a breakthrough media launch," said Chuck Allen, Chief Executive Officer of Athlon."We are launching the largest sports title in the country without the circulation and distribution costs that are crippling many traditional magazines, and we offer advertisers the scale to reach an estimated 25+ million sports fans each month."

In connection with this new venture, Stephen Duggan is acquiring a minority stake in Athlon and assuming the role of President, Athlon Media.Duggan was previously Chief Executive Officer of Alpha Media Group, publisher of Maxim magazine and a founder of Publishing Group of America, publisher of American Profile, Relish and Spry magazines.Jerry Lyles is also joining Athlon as Senior Vice President, Publisher Relations.Lyles previously held the same position at Publishing Group of America.Commenting on the launch of Athlon Sports, Duggan said, “Jerry and I are extremely excited to be joining forces with Athlon.Sports fans know and respect Athlon and we are pleased to extend this brand to a much larger audience.Athlon Sports will be a tremendous win for national advertisers as well as newspaper publishers and the millions of readers they serve.”

Athlon Sports represents a new stage in Athlon's development as America’s premier sports publisher.Founded in 1967, Athlon is the leading publisher of sports annuals in the United States.Through its integrated sports communication programs, Athlon delivers consumer and business-to-business marketing solutions to major corporate clients.Athlon has offices in Nashville, New York, Chicago, Cincinnati, Atlanta and Indianapolis and distributes its content internationally to 33 countries.