The Players' Tribune
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''The Players' Tribune'' is a new media platform that produces daily sports conversation and publishes first-person stories from professional athletes. The platform was founded by former professional
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
player
Derek Jeter Derek Sanderson Jeter ( ; born June 26, 1974), nicknamed "the Captain", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, businessman, and baseball executive. As a player, Jeter spent his entire 20-year Major League Baseball (MLB) caree ...
in 2014. Content ranges from videos to podcasts to written pieces.


History

''The Players' Tribune'' launched in October 2014 by
Derek Jeter Derek Sanderson Jeter ( ; born June 26, 1974), nicknamed "the Captain", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, businessman, and baseball executive. As a player, Jeter spent his entire 20-year Major League Baseball (MLB) caree ...
and Jaymee Messler, the
chief marketing officer A chief marketing officer (CMO), also called a chief brand officer (CBO), is a C-suite corporate executive responsible for managing marketing activities in an organization. The CMO leads brand management, marketing communications (including adver ...
of Excel Sports Management, Jeter's agency, as a means for athletes to offer more direct insight into their lives. The outlet began collecting
venture capital Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to start-up company, startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in ...
funds in 2015 and entered a "next phase" which included expanding content from the written word to include podcasts, video, and a presence on
SiriusXM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting corporation headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. The company was formed by the 2008 merge ...
satellite radio. The same year, ''The Players' Tribune'' launched TPT Assist, a cause-related platform designed to allow athletes to share their philanthropic endeavors. Messler served as the president of ''The Players' Tribune'' until leaving in January 2019. In June 2017, Jeff Levick, former
Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...
Chief Revenue Officer, was named the first CEO of the company.
Legendary Entertainment Legendary Entertainment, LLC (also known as Legendary Pictures or simply Legendary) is an American mass media and film production company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull. The company has often collaborated with the major stu ...
supplied funding as well as creative support. On June 15, 2015, it was announced that
New Enterprise Associates New Enterprise Associates (NEA) is an American-based venture capital firm. NEA focuses investment stages ranging from seed stage through growth stage across an array of industry sectors. With over $25 billion in committed capital, NEA is one of t ...
, a venture capital firm, had invested $9.5M in ''The Players' Tribune''. Among the attractions for the firm was the athlete ownership of the site and athlete involvement. As of October 27, 2015, after the Series B first close of $9.5 million, another $5.5 million in equities was made available to additional investors. Kobe Bryant, who had been involved with ''TPT'' since December 2014, made the largest investment in the platform and led all athletes in the round. Athletes represented by GenTrust, an investment management company, were among the athletes who invested. As of January 19, 2017, ''The Players' Tribune'' had raised an additional $40 million in funding, bringing the total amount raised to $58 million. In 2018, ''The Players' Tribune'' purchased Unscriptd, a tech start-up which produces short-form video content. The startup began a round of
layoff A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing an organization ...
s shortly after. In 2021, ''The Players' Tribune'' expanded into Brazil and Japan, partnering with NBA player Yuta Watanabe,
Formula 1 Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...
driver
Yuki Tsunoda is a Japanese racing driver who competes in Formula One for Red Bull Racing. Born in Sagamihara and raised in Tokyo, Tsunoda began competitive kart racing aged nine. Supported by Honda since 2016 through the , Tsunoda graduated to junior formu ...
, and soccer player Mana Iwabuchi in the Japanese expansion.


Acquisition

In November 2019, it was announced that ''The Players' Tribune'' would be acquired by Minute Media, a digital entertainment media company that owns
Mental Floss ''Mental Floss'' (stylized as ''mental_floss'') is an American online magazine and digital, print, and e-commerce media company focused on millennials. It is owned by Minute Media, an international digital media publisher based in London, Engla ...
,
The Big Lead ''The Big Lead'' was an American news blog. The website mainly covers sports news, although it also touches on a varying degree of other news topics ranging from politics to pop culture. Launched on February 24, 2006, it was co-founded by forme ...
,
FanSided FanSided is a network of more than 301 commercial American sports, lifestyle, and entertainment websites and newsletters. It was co-founded and launched in 2009 by brothers Zach Best and Adam Best. The network was sold to Time Inc. in May 2015. ...
, and other digital media properties.
Derek Jeter Derek Sanderson Jeter ( ; born June 26, 1974), nicknamed "the Captain", is an American former professional baseball shortstop, businessman, and baseball executive. As a player, Jeter spent his entire 20-year Major League Baseball (MLB) caree ...
will continue to be involved in the business as a member of the Minute Media's board of directors.


Content and platform

The platform's content includes first-person written stories, videos,
podcasts A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an episodic series of digital audio files that users can download to a personal device or stream to listen to at a time of their ...
, and photo galleries. Topics covered by the platform include mental health, athlete retirements, social justice issues, and more. As of 2018, more than 1,800 athletes, coaches and sports personalities had contributed to the site. The content is produced in partnership between the athlete and the outlet's editorial team, with close oversight by the athlete. The vast majority of articles are written by staff at ''The Players' Tribune'', who craft stories based on interviews conducted with the athletes. All content is approved by the athletes before it is posted, with some exercising greater control over the finished product than others. The site's former editorial director, Gary Hoenig, noted the stories are largely crafted from "monologues, with questions to nudge the conversation along," rather than a traditional interview. Athletes such as former MLB player
David Ortiz David Américo Ortiz Arias (born November 18, 1975), nicknamed "Big Papi", is a Dominican Americans, Dominican-American former professional baseball designated hitter and first baseman who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball from 1997 ...
and former NBA player
Kobe Bryant Kobe Bean Bryant ( ; August 23, 1978 – January 26, 2020) was an American professional basketball player. A shooting guard, he List of NBA players who have spent their entire career with one franchise, spent his entire 20-year career with t ...
have used the platform to announce their retirements. Bryant's retirement announcement, titled "
Dear Basketball ''Dear Basketball'' is a 2017 American animated film written and narrated by Kobe Bryant and directed and animated by Glen Keane, with music by John Williams. It is based on a letter Bryant wrote for ''The Players' Tribune'' on November 29, 201 ...
", was turned into an
Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
-winning short film of the same name in 2017. Pieces from athletes have on occasion broken into mainstream media conversations, including articles by Kevin Love and Larry Sanders on mental health, Natasha Cloud on racism and social justice, and Breanna Stewart on child sexual abuse. In addition to written pieces, the outlet also produces podcasts and videos, notably its longest running podcast, the ''Knuckleheads'', hosted by former NBA players Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles; ''Truss Levelz'', hosted by NFL players Cameron Jordan and Mark Ingram; and ''Blindsided'', hosted by former NHL player Corey Hirsch and Dr. Diane McIntosh. As of 2018, the site averages 3.4 million unique views a month in the United States, according to
ComScore Comscore, Inc. is an American-based global media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, advertising agencies, brand marketers, and publishers. History Comscore was founded in July 1999 in Resto ...
. Visitors to the site spend more than seven minutes per story.


Sponsors and partnerships

Former CEO Jeff Levick described ''The Players’ Tribune'' revenue model as largely based around selling branded content. Several sponsors have signed a deal with ''The Players' Tribune''.
Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...
debuted as their first sponsor, as well as
Powerade Powerade is a sports drink created in 1988 and distributed by the Coca-Cola Company. Its primary competitor is Gatorade, which is owned by PepsiCo since 2001. History Powerade was created by the Coca-Cola Company and first released in 1988. Th ...
,
Dove Columbidae is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with small heads, relatively short necks and slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. ...
,
Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...
,
Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...
, and Built with Chocolate Milk. The site partnered with
American Family Insurance American Family Mutual Insurance Company, also abbreviated as AmFam, is an American private mutual company that focuses on property, casualty, and auto insurance, and also offers commercial insurance, life, health, and homeowners coverage ...
in 2016 and collaborated with the
Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...
television series '' Jack Ryan''.


Netflix series, "Untold"

''The Players' Tribune'' co-produced “Untold,” a five-part Netflix docuseries that premiered with its first episode about the " Malice at the Palace" on August 10, 2021. '' Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist'' chronicled the
catfishing Catfishing refers to the creation of a fictitious online persona, or fake identity (typically on social networking platforms), with the intent of deception, usually to mislead a victim into an online romantic relationship or to commit finan ...
story involving Manti Te'o, ''Untold: Caitlyn Jenner'' focuses on the life and career of Caitlyn Jenner. Other episodes include the story of tennis player Mardy Fish's mental health struggles and an account of disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy.
Chapman Way Chapman Way is an American documentary film director and producer. He is best known for producing the Netflix documentary series ''Untold (Netflix), Untold'', ''Wild Wild Country'' and ''The Battered Bastards of Baseball''. Life and career Chapm ...
and Maclain Way are credited as directors and co-executive producers of the series.


Reception and criticism

Athletes' contributions have won praise from the sports media. ''The Players' Tribune'' has been criticized for using the practice of ghostwriting in some of its articles. "Like nearly every post on the site, the Ortiz essay was not written directly by its bylined athlete but instead crafted from a recorded interview with a Tribune staff producer," wrote Richard Sandomir, in an article for the ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. Richard Deitsch, a journalist who focuses on the intersection of sports and media for ''Sports Illustrated'', described ''The Players’ Tribune'' as a "hybrid of journalism, storytelling and PR, but a really high-end combination of those three elements." Critics have brought up questions regarding the role of traditional reporters and beat writers in sports today. Jeter responded saying "We're not trying to take away from sportswriters. Sportswriters are what makes sports successful." He added, "We're not covering day-to-day sports scores. We don't have sports highlights. This is completely different ... I think we can co-exist." Some media outlets question the ability of ''The Players' Tribune'' to stand out in the news cycle, especially against Twitter and other social media platforms Athletes and staff have countered with defenses of the platform's purpose, with one employee noting, "This is longform social, to tell stories with content in a natural way." Responding to the notion that the site might be used to polish athlete reputations, Executive Editor Sean Conboy said, “Our most successful stories are the ones that have nothing to do with just trying to burnish the reputation of an athlete. They have something to do with them really revealing themselves and saying things they've maybe never said before.” Journalist
Keith Olbermann Keith Theodore Olbermann (born January 27, 1959) is an American sports and political commentator and writer. Olbermann spent the first 20 years of his career in sports journalism. He was a sports correspondent for CNN and for local TV and ra ...
criticized the site's inclusion of
eSports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...
players, saying that they "have jumped the shark by publishing pieces by snotty random kids playing children's games" in response to an article by
Doublelift Yiliang "Peter" Peng (), better known as Doublelift, is an American content creator, streamer, and semi-professional and former-professional ''League of Legends'' player. He previously played for Counter Logic Gaming, Team Liquid, Team SoloM ...
, a ''
League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...
'' player.


Staff

The Executive Editor of The Players' Tribune is Sean Conboy.


See also

* ''
Dear Basketball ''Dear Basketball'' is a 2017 American animated film written and narrated by Kobe Bryant and directed and animated by Glen Keane, with music by John Williams. It is based on a letter Bryant wrote for ''The Players' Tribune'' on November 29, 201 ...
''


Footnotes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Players Tribune American sports journalism organizations 2014 establishments in the United States Internet properties established in 2014