Global Sports and Broadband Sports Form Strategic Relationship
Global Sports to Become Exclusive E-Commerce Sporting Goods Provider for Broadband Sports, Serving Its Extensive Proprietary Sports Content Web Sites
Broadband Sports, Through Its AthletesDirect Subsidiary, to Provide Exclusive Sports Content, Including Expert Advice, Online Chats and Virtual Autograph Sessions, to Global Sports Partners Web Sites, Drawing From its Relationships With More Than 250 Professional Athletes
Global Sports, Inc., (NASDAQ: GSPT) a leading developer and operator of e-commerce sporting goods businesses, and Broadband Sports, a leading sports media company offering original content and commerce to the Internets leading portals and sports sites, today announced the formation of a multi-year online alliance.
As part of the agreement, Global Sports will become the exclusive e-commerce sporting goods provider for all of Broadband Sports properties. Capitalizing on its expertise in e-commerce fulfillment and its wide selection of brand name sporting goods products, including a vast selection of official licensed merchandise, Global Sports will enable sporting goods e-commerce for all of Broadband Sports content properties, including the more than 250 official athlete Web sites that comprise the AthletesDirect network.
Under the agreement, Broadband Sports will provide unique athlete and team sports collectibles and memorabilia for distribution on Global Sports partners Web sites. Through its merchandising relationship with Broadband Sports, Global Sports will be able to offer consumers of its partners Web sites the ability to purchase authentic autographed products from Broadband Sports roster of athletes.
Broadband Sports will also utilize its roster of athletes to create original first-person content for Global Sports. AthletesDirect exclusively creates and manages the Web sites for the worlds top athletes, such as Anna Kournikova, Kobe Bryant, Mia Hamm, Troy Aikman, Karl Malone, Brett Farve, Sergei Fedorov and Ken Griffey, Jr. AthletesDirect will create content, drawing from its impressive roster of professional athletes to allow Global Sports to offer on its partners Web sites:
- expert advice on selecting equipment as well as training and performance tips,
- answers to specific questions through live online chats on Global Sports partners Web sites, and
- virtual autograph sessions through which consumers who purchase sporting goods equipment or memorabilia from one of Global Sports partners Web sites can have items autographed by their favorite professional athletes.
By enabling e-commerce sporting goods businesses for Broadband Sports, Global Sports will be able to increase its customer reach and further leverage our infrastructure and we are thrilled to welcome them as our newest e-commerce partner, said Michael G. Rubin, Chairman and CEO of Global Sports. We are also excited to offer consumers of our partners Web sites access to hundreds of their favorite athletes, providing a true value-added shopping experience.
This alliance between Broadband Sports and Global Sports demonstrates how our extensive creative resources and relationships with leading athletes combines to open new syndication opportunities to distribute our rich content, said Richard Nanula, CEO of Broadband Sports. In this case, our relationship with Global Sports also allows us to leverage their fulfillment and logistics expertise enabling us to focus on our core businesses: programming, content development and authentic memorabilia.
About Global Sports, Inc.
Global Sports, Inc. (NASDAQ: GSPT) (http://www.globalsports.com) is a leading developer and operator of e-commerce sporting goods businesses. Global develops and operates the e-commerce sporting goods businesses of sporting goods retailers, general merchandisers, Internet companies and media companies under exclusive long-term agreements. The companys current partners include BlueLight.com (http://www.bluelight.com) the exclusive e-commerce partner for Kmart (NYSE: KM), Broadband Sports (http://www.broadbandsports.com) and its AthletesDirect subsidiary (http://www.athletesdirect.com), Dunhams Sports (http://www.dunhamssports.com), Healtheon/WebMD (http://store.webmd.com), MC Sports (http://www.mcsports.com), Oshmans Sporting Goods (http://www.oshmans.com), Sport Chalet (http://www.sportchalet.com), The Athlete’s Foot (http://www.theathletesfoot.com), and The Sports Authority (http://www.thesportsauthority.com).
About Broadband Sports
Broadband Sports is a leading online sports media company dedicated to serving hardcore sports fans. Broadband Sports reaches the hardcore fan by providing its original content and commerce to the Internet’s leading portals and sports sites as well as through its own branded online destinations. The company offers sports consumers proprietary content and commerce featuring individual athletes as well as college and professional teams across a broad range of sports. The company currently operates four online media properties: AthletesDirect, the leading provider of official athlete Web sites; SportsWritersDirect, a leading source of in-depth team and player information; RotoNewsDirect, a leading provider of fantasy sports information and services and SportsAuthenticsDirect, an Internet retailer of sports collectibles and merchandise. Online users can access Broadband Sports’ content and products at www.athletesdirect.com, www.rotonewsdirect.com, and through leading Internet providers, including AOL, eBay, Fox Sports, Lycos, uBid and Yahoo!. Broadband Sports, Inc. is headquartered in Santa Monica, California and has offices in the Bay Area and New York City. The company has 180 employees.
Statements about Global Sports, Inc.s outlook and all other statements in this release other than historical facts are forward-looking statements. Since these statements involve risks and uncertainties, they are subject to change at any time and Global Sports actual results may differ materially from expected results. Many of Global Sports forward-looking statements are based upon certain assumptions, and there are inherent difficulties in predicting certain important factors that could impact these assumptions. These factors, as and when applicable, are discussed in Global Sports filings with the SEC.
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Contact:
Broadband Sports Contact:
Lisa Cohen
Public Relations Supervisor
(310) 453-8183
lcohen@broadbandsports.com
Global Sports Contact:
Dana Stein Grosser
Director of Corporate Communications
(610) 491-7000
grosserd@globalsports.com
