Ski Racing Media, World Pro Ski Tour Join Forces - Jon Franklin As CEO

Ski Racing Media (SRM), in conjunction with the World Pro Ski Tour and Leever Partners, is pleased to announce the addition of Jon Franklin as the publication’s Chief Executive Officer. The former head of IMG Winter Sports and current World Pro Ski Tour CEO, Franklin joins the SRM team to further expand strategic partnerships and publishing opportunities for the world’s premier multimedia ski racing news outlet.

Ski Racing Media, acquired by Dan Leever in 2019, has revamped its editorial product and reported significant growth in readership since the acquisition. The publication is currently experiencing a more than 400% increase in site traffic compared to a year earlier. With the numbers on the rise, Franklin plans to activate an aggressive outreach to new advertisers and will add cooperation with television and live-event assets from the World Pro Ski Tour to the array of opportunities available to advertisers and partners.

“I’ve been an avid reader of Ski Racing since I was 12 years old,” says Franklin. “As such, I am deeply honored to become part of the SRM team to support its growth into the future. The product is going from strong to stronger, and I look forward to further broadening readership by adding breadth to the existing programs and onboarding more partners.”

Under the new editorial direction, SRM has taken on tough issues important to the ski racing community — topics like the fair utilization of the NCAA system and alpine development in North America. SRM simultaneously partnered with leading industry experts and media veterans to provide insight and analysis into the sport, to tell stories that highlight the history and culture of ski racing, and provide the most current breaking news to fans.

“I invested in Ski Racing Media for what it could be,” said Leever. “We have proven there is a broad audience for quality ski racing journalism. If you had told me at the time we made the investment that we would be attracting millions of site visits just a year later, I wouldn’t have believed it. With the unequivocal success of our product, largely thanks to Geoff Mintz (editor-in-chief) and his collaborators, it’s time to ramp up the investment in monetization.”

Franklin will join the Ski Racing management team already in place, which includes Publisher Claire Brown. Franklin also spearheads the resurgence currently underway at the World Pro Ski Tour, where the historically significant dual-racing format attracts top racers around the globe, including double Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety, world champions and other decorated professional skiers.

“Jon Franklin has done a great job running the World Pro Ski Tour as evidenced by a current successful capital raise,” Leever added. “We’ll see what COVID allows as far as Tour events this season, but we now have the staying power to get beyond COVID to a more normalized environment. Jon is a World Class CEO and there are real synergies with Ski Racing and the World Pro Ski Tour. We will be beyond this crazy environment before long. When we are, Jon will have us positioned for great success.”