Call it “Moneyball” for the youth audience. In just five years of existence, New York-based GameChanger has blown apart many of the decades-long practices typical in youth and amateur sports. More than
4 million baseball and softball games have been scored using GameChanger’s mobile-based products, and the company has aligned with many of the leading entities in youth sports, including Little League Baseball, Babe Ruth Baseball and the American Softball Association. The company also has raised nearly $11 million in venture capital funds. Ted Sullivan, GameChanger chief executive and co-founder, is a former minor league pitcher in the Cleveland Indians’ system and a mobile marketing executive.
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There is so much opportunity in amateur sports technology. … We’ve barely scratched the surface.”
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Photo by: GAMECHANGER
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On building scale in the fragmented world of amateur sports: I think we’ve benefited from organic, word-of-mouth growth because our team communities appreciate that we’ve built an elegant and cost-effective solution for two of their most acute problems: archaic tools for managing the tedious process of scoring, stat calculation and distribution of those metrics; and family and fans previously had no way to follow their favorite local amateur players and teams.
On the role of partnerships with organizations such as Little League and Ripken Baseball: The primary benefit is in building trust. These are some of the most trusted brands in sports, and by working together with them, we earn the trust of coaches, families and players.
On mining the data generated through GameChanger: GameChanger has been used to capture more than a billion plays, and the opportunities are endless. So far we’ve focused primarily on individual team metrics but will shift some focus in the future to leveraging macro-level data to create a more engaging and valuable experience for our users.
On the current venture capital climate for sports, and for amateur sports in particular: We’ve been fortunate to have a lot of inbound interest from potential investors over the last 18 months or so. I think that speaks to the current venture capital environment, and to the activity within amateur sports technology. The market has evolved so much in the last five years, but it’s still in a very early stage.
