Parade Media (previously known as AMG/Parade and Athlon Media Group) is a publisher founded in 1967 that is based in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
.
Nashville's
Spencer Hays
Spencer Hays (July 14, 1936 – March 1, 2017) was an American businessman and art collector. He was the majority owner and chairman of the executive committee of Southwestern family of companies. With his wife, he made the largest foreign dona ...
was its majority stockholder.
It was purchased by The Arena Group in 2022 and now operates as a subsidiary of The Arena Group.
Athlon Sports
Athlon is best known for publishing preseason single-title sports annuals on professional and college sports. The annuals are sold at newsstands in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Europe.
[ It is the U.S.'s largest publisher of sports annuals,]retail sales
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesale ...
dollars and magazines sold.[
Athlon's 15 sports magazines include Athlon Sports Monthly, Pro Football, Fantasy Football, National College Football, Southeastern Football, Atlantic Coast Football, Big Ten Football, Big 12 Football, Big East Football, Pac-10 Football, Baseball, College Basketball, Pro Basketball, Racing and Golf.][
On October 1, 2022, it was announced that Athlon Sports would be discontinuing its special magazines due to its merger with ]Sports Illustrated
''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
. The new special magazines will be released in the Sports Illustrated manner. The merger was undone in 2024 with ''Sports Illustrated'' owner Authentic Brands Group
Authentic Brands Group LLC (ABG) is an American brand management company headquartered in New York City. Its holdings include various apparel, athletics, and entertainment brands, which it partners with other companies to license and merchandise. ...
revoking The Arena Group's license to use the ''Sports Illustrated'' brand and transferring it to Minute Media
Minute Media Ltd. is an international digital media publisher based in London, England, with an associated research and development center in Tel Aviv, Israel. From founding as soccer publication ''90min'' in Israel, the company has grown into a m ...
; The Arena Group's sports content, which was being published under the ''SI'' banner at the time, moved to a revived Athlon Sports website.
History
In February 2006, it acquired Grogans Sports Information Inc., a fantasy sports
A fantasy sport (also known less commonly as rotisserie or roto) is a game, often played using the internet, where participants assemble imaginary or virtual teams composed of proxies of real players of a professional sport. These teams compete ba ...
publisher based in Littleton, Colorado
Littleton is a home rule municipality city located in Arapahoe, Douglas, and Jefferson counties, Colorado, United States. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Stati ...
, that publishes ''Grogans Fantasy Football Analyst'' in-season scouting reports.[ ''Athlon Sports'' began with a circulation of seven million and grew to nine million in 2011.][
In 2013, Athlon acquired the print rights to three magazines distributed as newspaper inserts: ''American Profile'', ''Relish'', and ''Spry''. Athlon did not develop the associated websites and later launched the companion website Community Table. In 2014, Athlon acquired '']Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...
'' from Advance Publications
Advance Publications, Inc. is a privately held American media company owned by the families of Donald Newhouse and Samuel Irving Newhouse Jr., the sons of company founder Samuel Irving Newhouse Sr. It owns publishing-related companies inc ...
.
In 2016, Athlon acquired the titles of Harris Publications
Harris Publications Inc. was an American special interest media company, operating over 75 brands with print, digital, mobile and live-event platforms prior to its sale to Athlon Media in 2016. It produced magazines that educate, entertain and ...
, which had been shut down.
Athlon Sports, as well as Tom James Co, an affiliated company, have been accused of racism by several employees who complain of an extremely religious, right-wing and racist atmosphere.
In August 2023, Manoj Bhargava
Manoj Bhargava (born 1953) is an Indian American businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder and CEO of Innovations Ventures LLC ( dba Living Essentials LLC), the company known for producing the 5-hour Energy drink. By 2012, the brand ha ...
announced that he would be merging his Bridge Media Networks (the owner of NewsNet
NewsNet (stylized as NEWSnet) was an American news-oriented free-to-air television network and newscast production company owned by Bridge News, LLC, which itself is owned by Manoj Bhargava's Bridge Media Networks. The network was structured ...
) with The Arena Group, bringing Parade Media under his majority control.
Publications
*AMG Lifestyle
** ''Harris Farmer's Almanac''
*AMG/Parade
** ''Athlon Sports''
** ''Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually some variety ...
''
*Athlon OutdoorsAthlon Outdoors Store
/ref>
** ''American Frontiersman''
** ''Ballistic''
** ''Combat Handguns''
** ''Guns of the Old West''
** ''Mopar Action''
** ''The New Pioneer''
** ''Survivor's Edge''
** ''Tactical Weapons''
References
{{Authority control
Sports magazines published in the United States
Publishing companies established in 1967
Companies based in Nashville, Tennessee
1967 establishments in Tennessee
Magazines established in 2010
Magazines published in Tennessee