Posted by Bud on December 09, 2009 at 22:20:01:
Shakeup at Halas Hall: Chicago Tribune hires Sun-Times' Bears reporter Brad Biggs
In what may be the only big change at Halas Hall no one predicted, Brad Biggs, the Chicago Sun-Times' lead reporter on the Chicago Bears beat, abruptly quit Tuesday to join the rival Chicago Tribune with four games left in the pro football regular season.
Biggs will team with Tribune football correspondents Vaughn McClure and Dan Pompei covering the Bears, effective immediately.
The defection on what is arguably Chicago's biggest sports reporting beat came within days of the Sun-Times hiring Tribune sports columnist Rick Morrissey, the most high-profile Tribune-to-Sun-Times newsroom switch in more than 20 years.
Mike Kellams, the Chicago Tribune's associate managing editor for sports, called Biggs "one of the hardest working reporters" on the Bears beat in a memo to staff announcing the hire.
"For those of you keeping score," Kellams added, "this does not close the search for a potential replacement for Rick Morrissey. That job remains open and we�re considering all of our options."
Morrissey's column had yet to make its Sun-Times debut, as of Tuesday. But his signing Friday night was seen as an indication that businessman Jim Tyree, Chicago Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz and the other investors who saved the Sun-Times from liquidation earlier this fall may be intent on bringing the long simmering rivalry between the two major metro dailies to a boil.
Earlier in the week, WSCR-AM 670 host Dan McNeil moved his weekly freelance sports column from the Sun-Times to the Tribune, and the Tribune last month hired Sun-Times Sports Editor Stu Courtney to be editor of its chicagobreakingsports.com Web site.
The new owners' spending to get Morrissey also comes after rank-and-file workers at the Sun-Times and its suburban sister papers were required to make concessions, including acceptance of pay cuts. Tyree's investor group insisted upon those givebacks as a pre-condition of acquiring the papers' parent company, saying the enterprise would not otherwise be economically viable.
The change on the Bears beat comes as those who cover the National Football League team are bracing for a series of potential changes on and off the field at the franchise's Halas Hall headquarters in Lake Forest, the fallout from a disappointing 5-7 season to date.
Biggs, the NFC North division representative for the Pro Football Writers of America, has been with the Sun-Times for 10 years and, since August, has also been writing for the National Football Post.
A 1994 graduate of the University of Missouri, he previously wrote for numerous other publications, including The Sporting News.
Also Tuesday, Sun-Times Media announced the appointment of Matthew A. Saleski, 41, as vice president of marketing, effective Jan. 4. For the last two years, Saleski was strategic account director for Yahoo! Inc., responsible clients such as Kraft Foods, Mars/Wrigley and PepsiCo. He previously worked in sales for Getty Images.
From 2000 to 2005, Saleski was with Tribune Co. in sales positions with the Chicago Tribune, as well as a hitch as manager of trade marketing and business development and strategy for Tribune Interactive.