Oh no, it can't be another one, can it? Apparently it is, and a nice featured story in today's NY Times to go introduce it. The online youth sports category is like an oversold flight from Newark to West Palm Beach (New Yorkers who regularly fly to south Florida on Continental know what I mean). Basically, the aren't enough seats for everyone and if you're stuck in the back, there is no way you're getting the snack you want, some lucky guy sitting 10 rows up just snagged the last one. Since I'm in a metaphorical mood, let's equate the lack of snacks on the jam packed flight to ad dollars for a moment. You have all these youth sports sites launching essentially going after the same marketing dollars. There is not enough to go around and for the most part, all of these sites have built their model exclusively as advertiser supported. Yes, the numbers for involvement (both direct and indirect) for organized youth sports, be it high school or elementary/middle school is huge. There wouldn't be such a thing as a soccer Mom if it weren't for organized youth sports. But take a reality check for a second, do you really think that all of these sites will be able to scale their member bases let alone secure ad dollars? The only edge WePlay has is that they're positioning their offering towards pre-high school kids, parents and coaches as opposed to the emphasis on college recruiting for high school athletes utilized by quasi competitors like MaxPreps and Takkle. In reality though, they'll all be chasing the same ad dollars. WePlay is backed by financial heavy hitters and marquee brands and individuals including Major League Baseball, talent agency giant Creative Artists Agency and even baseball star Derek Jeter. A note of caution though, lining up these marquee investors doesn't automatically guarantee success. As the Times writer points out, during the height of Internet frenzy, venture investors and sports stars launched MVP.com, which I remember quite well. With a ton of money raised, MVP sits alongside other big name causalities like eToys, Digital Entertainment Network and my personal favorite Kibu. Of course, at the end of the day, I'm just a little youth marketing guy so perhaps the stars and big time investors behind WePlay see something I don't.
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