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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Rivals.com Network To Shut Down;
Bankruptcy Proceedings Filed--(Apr. 10, 2001)

We were going to take a couple of days off before getting back to writing about the Double Pump Easter Tournament and the Rockfish Spring League playoffs, but this afternoon we heard some big news. . . not that almost everyone hadn't heard the rumors, but now it's official. Rivals.com will shut down, and has filed for protection with the bankruptcy court.

According to an article in the Puget Sound Business Journal , Rivals.com, the largest single provider of sports internet sites, including many of the largest basketball recruiting and team-specific sites, will shut down. No timetable has yet been set, and there is nothing known about how the shutdown will directly impact most of the sites, such as Pac-West Hoops and others. But from our conversations with some of the operators of these sites, we would expect to see them resurface again as fully independent operating websites, perhaps not with the same "look and feel" that Rivals developed, e.g., a uniform, "network" look, but with most of the writers (the guys who Rivals called "publishers") hosting their own sites. We've spoken with both Tracy Pierson and Greg Hicks, and we would fully expect to see both Bruin Report Online and Pac-West Hoops resurface as independent sites.

Here's the article:

Breaking News
18:21 EDT Tuesday

RivalNetworks to close shop

M. Sharon Baker

The board of directors of Internet sports site RivalNetworks Inc. voted to shut the company down Monday night after chief executive Saul Gamoron nixed a potential asset sale to Nike Inc.

The Nike deal was a last ditch effort by founder Jim Heckman to keep his idea alive. Heckman founded the Internet sports site three years ago, raised $75 million in debt and equity, but was ousted last summer.

Rivals.com was a network of college and professional sports sites providing in-depth information on topics including the latest recruits, pregame maneuvers, and other player developments.

Nike's interest comes a week after Rival's Gamoron failed to reach buyout deals with ESPN Internet Group, Yahoo! and Global Sports Interactive. With all of those offers, Gamoron was attempting to sell the company and secure jobs for the company's top management as well as staff of 80, confirmed three sources, who each asked not to be identified.

The Seattle company's 80 so employees are to learn of the company's closure at 4 p.m. Tuesday, said an employee who asked not to be identified.

Gamoron and Mark Shuken, the company's president, were unavailable for comment earlier today.

The largest impediment to many of the sites resurfacing will be the question of who technically owns the rights to the names of the "pieces" of the Rivals network. Many of the specialty fan-sites, were formerly run as independent websites by highly motivated fans. In the acquisition, many of the sites chose to assign their Internic Registration rights (including all administrative rights) over to the Rivals network. Given the bankruptcy filing, unless the "publishers" (i.e., the former site operators) retained the administrative rights to their sites, it is doubtful that they can reopen or transfer them out from under the ambit of the bankruptcy filing. . . indeed, even if they did retain the Internic rights, technically speaking, every piece of the Rivals.com puzzle is now a part of the bankruptcy estate, and cannot be transferred without approval of the bankruptcy court. Only time will tell how soon some of these sites will begin to resurface if, as and when the Rivals servers are shut down, and when they do, whether they will be able to utilize the same names that they have been using as members of the Rivals network.

Tonight on Pac-West Hoops, Tracy Pierson wrote the following on the message board:

The situation is fairly uncertain at this point.

One thing, though: It appears Rivals will end as we know it. I'm completely certain that many of its sites, or much of the network, will re-appear again on the Internet, but it's uncertain as to when and how.

As for PWH, its future is also a bit uncertain at this point. I'm pretty certain PWH will exist, or Greg Hicks and I will be part of another recruiting site/network. I'm just not sure in what form as of yet.

Until the more long-term plan is reached, the short-term situation is even less certain. More than likely the Rivals sites will not immediately go black. So, I'll keep you updated on the status of PWH, Greg and I, and where we will most likely pop up.

It's a pretty good bet that we'll continue to provide all of the recruiting news on the west coast that you've come to appreciate. And I have to say, we really appreciate all the support we've received over the last two years.

Gee, I don't know what to tell all of those college coaches out there. No more free information!

Again, thanks everyone for your support. We'll keep you posted on what's happening, so keep an eye out here, or on other sites, for news...

Tracy Pierson

Well, there will still be some free info out there. . .since SoCalHoops isn't going anywhere. And who knows. . .as Tracy says, we're sure that he and Greg will be back somewhere, providing a lot of great recruiting info. . . .

Other Rivals recruiting sites have already put into place their backup plans. Here's the last installment from Bob Gibbons All-Star Report:

The end of Rivals does not mean the end for All Star Report. In the coming weeks we will re-locate to a new and improved site where we will continue to be your premier source for reliable college basketball recruiting news, player updates, event reports, and college basketball recruiting commentary.

In the event that this site should disappear or no longer be accessible, you can find us at www.bobgibbons.net. We are currently creating a new and improved All Star Report site which should be on line around the end of this month. In the meantime we will provide any important status updates regarding our new site here at this location.

Any questions that you may have about our future or anything else can be directed to Associate Editor Jeremy Tiers. You can leave Jeremy a message by clicking on the link provided which will take you to his message board.

Finally, we would like to thank the coaches, fans, players, and parents who have helped make this site the best and most reliable source of college basketball recruiting information on the web. We hope you will become a part of the new and exciting All Star Report once it is up and running.

Sincerely,

Bob Gibbons, Jeremy Tiers, Rob Matera, Roy Schmidt, and Harv Schmidt

Similarly, Mike Sullivan at Insider's Report also announced that he has plans to once again take his site back to independent status, although there was no indication where that would be just yet. Russ Blake's "JUCO Junction" site at Rivals hadn't yet acknowledged the shutdown, but we'd expect to also see that site up and running somewhere soon. Dave Telep at Rivals100Hoops.com had the following story on his site:

Thank You For All Of The Support!
By Dave Telep
Date: 4/10/2001

It's been a great ride, but unfortunately seemingly all good things come to an end. On Tuesday, it was announced that
Rivals.com was shutting down its business. Of course, that means Rivals100Hoops as you know it will no longer exist in
the near future.

A Sincere Thank You

The world of Internet recruiting is about to change. Rivals.com, the leading provider of college basketball recruiting information on the planet, has closed its doors for business. The company announced the news on Tuesday.

It is with a heavy heart that I tell you Rivals100Hoops will, in the next few weeks, shut down as a website. I can't tell you how sad that makes me to actually use those words. Since joining Rivals.com as its national college basketball recruiting editor last March, it's been a great ride.

The readers have made this the best site on the internet, bar none, for college basketball recruiting information. You've been so supportive of this site that I feed of your enthusiasm. It made my job easy. A lot of people may not realize the tremendous time commitment it takes to covering college basketball recruiting. Sometimes, you need a little kick in the pants to keep going. Thank you for providing that boost.

As for my future? Well, that's a good question. I am presently exploring many opportunities each within the vast industry of college basketball and recruiting. College basketball is my passion. For over four years, it's been my livelihood.

I want to sincerely thank you for all of the support. We were in this together. I met some great people - coaches, players, writers and administrators - and those relationships will carry over into whatever I choose to do in the future.

If you would like to be kept in the loop about some future ventures, please send me an email and I'll keep you in the loop.

Best wishes,
Dave Telep

ACC Recruiting, one of the other "major" Rivals recruiting websites had this to say:

GOODBYE FOR NOW FROM ACC UPDATE

By Kurt O'Neill
Date: 4/10/2001

Rivals.com is going out of business and this site will go away for now. We plan to show up soon somewhere else, but for now thanks for all your support. Warren and I appreciate the visits and feedback to this site. You can still receive ACC Recruiting Updates three days a week at 1-900-820-6700. I am glad to say that Warren will stay with me updateing those lines. Again thanks for your support.

Kurt

Where will most of the rest of the sites surface? Who knows. Some of the high school sites are popping up as message boards (e.g., MaineVarsity.com), while others either haven't said anything (e.g., CaliforniaPreps.com), while still others are trying to decide what to do. This was from NorCalPreps' Lorenzo Harris:

Rivals.com Decides to Shut Down

By Lorenzo Harris
Date: 4/10/2001

Well, it's official! After almost two years since the launch of NorCalPreps.com, Rivals.com has decided to close up shop. Now, the million-dollar question is "what will become of this site?" The answer to this question is a resounding...

...we don't know.
According to a report from the Puget Sound Business Journal, "the board of directors of Internet sports site RivalNetworks Inc. voted to shut the company down Monday night after chief executive Saul Gamoron nixed a potential asset sale to Nike Inc." NorCalPreps.com was able to confirm from a source inside the company that the various network sites will remain online through the end of the month and thereafter go dark, at least as a member of Rivals.

NorCalPreps.com is now faced with several options: 1. Go independent, 2. Join another network or 3. Shut down. I must say, the idea of walking away from all the hard work with no pay is an appealing prospect. But, then again, it would be a shame to let everything we've built go to waste and disappoint our readers.

I can tell you this. If we do decide to continue, much will depend on you. First of all, let us know your sentiments on the message boards. If we are to continue and avoid the same fate as Rivals.com and many other dotcoms, we must add fee-based content in addition to our free content (welcome to reality folks. It takes money to run this site). So, the million-dollar question "what will become of this site" really boils down to this: Are you willing to support this free site by paying a modest subscription fee for ADDITIONAL content not available anywhere else?" In other words, we will continue to offer our usual content for free but will offer additional content which will require a subscription. Please register your response on our special poll question of the week. If we decide to continue operating, we will provide further details about this new service.

I want to take this opportunity to thank our staff who volunteered many hours and their expertise to make this site what it is today. Finally, I thank our readers. You are our "community". This site was designed for you and it is you who will ultimately decide its fate.

Please continue to check in with us periodically for updates on our plans. And, by all means, register your vote and chime in on the message boards with your thoughts. Remember, the continued operation of this site depends on you.

Bill Nance at Washington Prep Report has been around since before the days of the old WestCoastHoops site. Here's his final article bidding everyone adios:

Adios and Aloha

By Bill Nance
Date: 4/10/2001

Dang. I had a dentist appointment at 4:00 this afternoon and arrived at Rancho Nance about 5:15 p.m. Her Majesty, my true love and Queen, was in a "let's go out for dinner" mood, so off we headed for Chinese.

The cashew chicken was great as was the wonton soup and sweet and sour pork. As always the veggie fried rice wasn't too shabby either.

I arrived home about 7:20 and checked my e-mail. Hey, there's a message from Coach Stan Emert at Lakeside. I wonder what that's about, it's not hoops season. So the good Coach tells me about the big news going around town that Rivals is going "POOF."

I look at a few other e-mails and it's fairly apparent that Coach Emert isn't doing an April Fools on my old butt. So I guess we'll be shutting this puppy down pretty soon, unless a whole lot of money falls out of the woodwork.

It's been quite an adventure since we went live on September 24, 1999. That first day we had over 1,700 page views, that's how Rivals counts things. By the end of a month we were routinely over 5,000. In December it jumped to 7,000+ and was over 12,000 by mid-January.

The day of the 2A/4A draw in March 2000 we hit a new daily high with over 47,000 views. This year during the hoops playoffs we broke 100,000 a hand full of times and were in the 90s every day. Not bad for an old guy without a clue, and that was with registration required message boards.

The last full month I got numbers for was January. We did over 1.8 million views that month. February and March will both be over 2 million I am sure.

That's called customer loyalty and for that I am grateful. Thank all of you for clicking in for your daily fix and for spreading the word. I never ran a single add, what the heck, Hershey built his candy bar empire by word of mouth and that was before the internet.

Where do we go from here, I haven't a clue. I guess I'll still be hanging out in gyms watching young men grow up as basketball players. That's why I love the game at this level, you get to see players do things that they didn't know they could do. They still get excited about playing the game. As long as I can find hoops, I'll be there.

I'll find a gig, or certainly give it a go, so keep your ears open and we'll let you know where we landed. Until then, see ya in the gym... or an eatery near by

There are many, many hundreds of other Rivals.com team-specific and region-specific sites that will be affected by this shutdown. When the servers will eventually be turned off is, right now, anyone's guess. In the meantime, if you want to visit some of these sites for the last time they were still running as of 10:00 p.m. tonight.

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