Pro athletes are "beginning to flock to" St. Louis-based social sports media site LockerDome, "using the platform to connect to the growing base of 18-34-year-old sports fans," according to Jon Friedman of ADWEEK. LockerDome gives athletes "a direct line to the sports fan." Beverly Hills Sports Council PR Dir Paul Kuo said, "With LockerDome, we can disseminate news and updates about a player along with off-the-field news. We can control the message as a player looks for endorsements and appearance fees. Social media brings an added value to our marketing effort." LockerDome in addition to athletes "offers a platform for teams and sports-related brands and media personalities to bolster their social-media presence." The website "boasts an average of 14 million unique visitors every month, with a 92 percent return rate by users." LockerDome said that it "expects to smash through to 25 million uniques by the end of this year." The site "seems well on its way to that goal -- its uniques doubled during February and March." The site next "plans to take its social strategy and apply it to other topics outside of athletics." The company "sees itself as having an especially strong pitch to Madison Avenue, given that more than 65 percent of its audience is 18-34 and 87 percent is male." The site already has "built a roster of some 150 clients, from endemics like Rawlings to QSRs such as Hardee’s." LockerDome was "founded as a site devoted primarily to youth athletics" and "made only marginal progress in its first few years, signing up fewer than 100,000 monthly users." But co-Founder & CEO Gabe Lozano "revamped LockerDome as a pro sports site." He has "raised about $8 million from investors since the inception of LockerDome." Considering its "quick growth, some might wonder whether Wall Street will eventually come calling." Lozano "resists the urge to think about going public -- for the time being" (ADWEEK.com, 6/25).
