John Elway, Michael Jordan and Wayne Gretzky are
"joining forces" with CBS Corp. and have "lined up" $65M in
venture capital from CA-based Benchmark Capital and Freeman
Spogli & Co. to launch MVP.com Inc., an online sporting
goods company "with ambitions to go public next year,"
according to George Anders of the WALL STREET JOURNAL.
Freeman Spogli "owns a controlling stake" in sporting goods
chain Galyan's Trading Co. and Benchmark partner David
Beirne said that MVP "initially will rely on Galyan's to
provide merchandise and help cement supply relationships."
MVP.com "expects to start selling goods" over the Internet
next month. Elway, who initially paid $70,000 for the
rights to the domain name MVP.com in July and invested an
undisclosed amount of money this time, will be company
Chair. Jordan and Gretzky also are investors and will be
part of the seven-member BOD. Anders: "The star power of
the athletes alone guarantees that MVP will be one of the
highest-profile start-ups in Internet retailing." While
online retailing faces challenges, MVP "is betting that it
can beat the odds with a mix of celebrity appeal, aggressive
marketing and a well-run supply chain that gives it much
faster inventory turnover" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 12/21).
CBS AND SPORTSLINE TIE: To promote the site, MVP has
"agreed to spend" $80M in a four-year marketing deal with
CBS and an additional $120M in a ten-year pact with
SportsLine.com. CBS and SportsLine "will take equity
stakes" in MVP as partial payment for ad space, while MVP
will acquire SportsLine's e-commerce operations. Former
Sears, Roebuck & Co. exec John Costello will be named
MVP.com CEO, and be one of at least 70 employees (WALL
STREET JOURNAL, 12/21). In Denver, Al Lewis writes that
MVP.com originally planned to offer consumers lifestyle and
fitness information, but now the site will be an electronic
retailer "focused" on sporting goods and merchandise and
going against Fogdog.com and others (ROCKY MTN NEWS, 12/21).
Announcing the deal this morning, MVP.com states that it
will spend $85M in its marketing pact with CBS (MVP.com).
