• by Sara Guaglione , January 13, 2016

Time Inc.’s Sports Illustratedand Scout Media, Inc. are partnering to produce a major online event leading up to National Signing Day, when high school senior football players sign with a college football team that is a United States National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) member school.

“The Race to National Signing Day” will be a content collaboration running through January and include live and on-demand video programming and digital reports on college football recruiting news, breaking commitments, in-depth features and expert analysis surrounding National Signing Day.

The partnership will play on football fans’ anticipation as National Signing Day grows closer.

All content created in the partnership will be streamed and distributed across both partners’ sites, including SI.com, Scout.com and SI’s new college football site, CampusRush.com.

“Building on the momentum of the recent launch of Campus Rush, SI is doubling down on all things college football,” SI digital GM Patty Hirsch stated.

On Feb. 2, the brands will launch a live preview show, as well as 10 hours of live programming on Feb. 3, which is National Signing Day. Experts from both Scout Media and Sports Illustrated will analyze conferences, teams and players across the country.

Big names from SI will feature in the programs, including college football journalists Pete Thamel, Andy Staples and Chris Johnson, who will work with Scout’s team of recruiting experts, like Brandon Huffman, Chad Simmons, Greg Biggins, Greg Powers and Amy Campbell.

SI has undergone aggressive expansion recently, with new initiatives cropping up to grow their brand.

For example, SI Group acquired the FanSided Network of over 300 sites, scored a content and distribution deal with the mobile-first sports media brand Chat Sports, launched the Campus Rush digital vertical and acquired Time Inc.’s Sports Illustrated Play, a new business devoted to youth sports.

In October, SI and Conde Nast’s Wired teamed up to produce a 10-part, multiplatform series aimed at providing insights to Super Bowl 100 (which won’t happen for another five decades), from the perspective of fans and players.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the partnerships are an effort by Time Inc. to offset the decline of its traditional print business by increasing its digital platform and relying on the power of its well-known magazine brands, such as Sports Illustrated.