In a crowded sports media landscape, where major players like ESPN, Yahoo! Sports and BleachReport dominate, Derek Jeter wants to shake things up.
The former New York Yankee founded The Player’s Tribune in 2014 with a mission to create the first sports content destination created, curated and controlled by professional athletes, providing a unique perspective into the daily sports conversation. The platform publishes first-person content from athletes, which run the gamut from long- and short-form features to videos to podcasts.
To date, over 1,200 athletes have contributed to the platform, which includes a photography essay from Kevin Durant, a poem from Kobe Bryant and personal reflections from David Ortiz.
Today, the company announced it raised a $40 Series C. The round was led by late-stage venture capital and equity growth firm IVP, with participating investments from GV, New Enterprise Associates, Bryant Stibel Investments, GenTrust and Thomas Tull.
“The Players’ Tribune has established a unique position in the sports media landscape,” says Jaymee Messler, president of The Players’ Tribune, said in a statement. “This investment will enable us to test new ways across a variety of platforms to help athletes tell their stories, and to create immersive content that brand and strategic partners want to support. IVP has a strong background in growing tech and media companies, and is passionate about what we are doing at TPT. We’re excited to partner with them. And with athletes making up nearly 20% of this round of financing, it’s a true testament to the strength of the athlete community we’ve built.”
The company plans on using the new financing to further scale its content, expand its video production, grow its sales and editorial operations and develop new revenue opportunities.
