CAA Sports, MLB Advanced Media and a venture capital firm have partnered to create WePlay.com, a social-networking site featuring Derek Jeter, LeBron James and others that aspires to become the online destination for participants, families and coaches involved in youth sports.
The site, which was unveiled at the OnMedia NYC conference last week, blends the networking capabilities of MySpace and Facebook with some of the classic, instructional elements featured in SI for Kids like “Tips from the Pros.” It will launch in April and try to gain traction with more than 240 million people who CAA Sports estimates are active in youth sports.
“What we’re trying to do is actually bridge the gap between a guy who’s playing shortstop for the New York Yankees and some kid who’s playing shortstop in Sandusky, Ohio,” said WePlay CEO Steve Hansen.
Derek Jeter will be among stars
featured on social-networking site
WePlay.
The site will be advertiser and sponsorship supported in its infancy and incorporate subscription packages once it has become more established. It will establish relationships with some 70,000 youth sports leagues to build initial traffic.
Six high-profile CAA Sports athletes involved in the site will raise its profile immediately. As founding partners in the venture, those athletes — Jeter, James, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, USA Softball player Jennie Finch, Seattle Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander and San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker — will have an equity stake in WePlay.
Their support makes the online venture the latest in a series of networking sites designed to give athletes a presence and business opportunity online. Others include Octagon’s swimroom.com, which features swimmers Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff, and WMG’s sk8site.com, which features skateboarders Jereme Rogers, Paul Rodriguez and Terry Kennedy.
CAA Sports will offer all 300-plus athletes it represents the chance to be affiliated with WePlay.com.
CAA has a digital business division which cultivated the idea early last year. CAA Sports then enlisted MLBAM for technological support and raised money for the site’s development through venture capital firm Pequot Ventures.
Staff writer Eric Fisher contributed to this story.
