• by Ray Schultz , December 18, 2023

Puck has hired John Ourand to head a new sports vertical, a first entry into the sports field for digital media startup Puck.

Ourand previously spent 18 years at Sports Business Journal.

Abe Madkour, publisher and executive editor of Sports Business Journal, announced the news to staff on Monday. 

“John Ourand will be leaving Sports Business Journal at the end of the year and will join Puck News,” Madkour wrote. 

Assessing Ourand’s impact, Madkour added, “We pushed him to do the first SBJ newsletter and he quickly made that a must read in the business every Monday night. He and Andrew Marchand from the New York Post quickly made the 'Marchand & Ourand Sports Media Podcast' a must-listen at the highest levels of sports business.”

Ourand says it took “a great opportunity” to get him to depart SBJ, adding, “I’m already a big fan of Puck reporters like Matt Belloni, Bill Cohan and others, and I can’t wait to work with them,” according to CNN.