Marissa Mayer reportedly stepped in and kept star NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski from leaving Yahoo
It had previously been reported by McIntyre that Wojnarowski was being "heavily courted by multiple media outlets," and that Sports Illustrated was considered the favorite to lure him away from Yahoo Sports. The idea was that SI, or wherever Woj landed, would give him his own vanity sports website completely devoted to the NBA under the banner of a larger company, something akin to Peter King's NFL vertical, TheMMQB.com.
However, that changed once Mayer stepped in.
"SI sources say they grew worried about luring [Wojnarowski] once Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer got involved in discussions," McIntyre wrote.
It is unclear if Yahoo will give Wojnarowski his own MMQB-like vertical, but sources did tell The Big Lead that Mayer "made a significant long-term commitment to build an NBA-type franchise around Wojnarowski."
This is at least the second time in recent weeks that Mayer has gotten directly involved in the sports arm of Yahoo, with the company launching a daily fantasy sports service earlier this month.
Eric Fisher of Sports Business Journal reports that Wojnarowski agreed to a four-year contract.