Global Sports, Inc. Forms Global Sports Ineractive on the Cutting Edge of Electronic Commerce

GLOBAL SPORTS, INC. (NASDAQ: GSPT) today announced the formation of Global
Sports Interactive (“GSI”), a revolutionary E-commerce company with long-term
exclusive agreements to operate the E-commerce businesses for leading sporting
goods retailers with combined annual sales of $1.6 billion. Currently, GSI has
e-commerce outsourcing contracts with The Athlete’s Foot, Sport Chalet, MC Sports,
Sports & Recreation, and one other retailer with annual sales in excess of $200
million. GSI expects to leverage the well known brand names, substantial existing
marketing visibility and established customer bases of these retailers to efficiently
drive consumer traffic to its Web sites. By building a single best-of-breed organization
and technology platform to run multiple e-commerce sporting goods businesses, GSI
is positioned to realize significant economies of scale, which could be further
enhanced as the company seeks to expand its initial client base.

For each of its partners, GSI will run their entire E-commerce business including
building, maintaining and enhancing a customized Web site that will serve as the
retailer’s exclusive Internet destination and will offer a broad selection of merchandise
that is consistent with the products available in their land-based operations. Each
retailer’s pricing online will be consistent with the pricing in that retailer’s land-based
stores. GSI will order, warehouse and ship to consumers the merchandise sold on its
Web sites seamlessly under the brand names of each of its partners. GSI’s Web
sites, which the company anticipates launching in time for e-Christmas 1999, are
being built by separate creative teams and will have a unique look and feel that
captures the essence of each retailer’s brand.

Commenting on GSI, Global Sports, Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael
Rubin said, “The emergence of the Internet and the rapid expansion of e-commerce
has caused virtually every business to reevaluate its priorities and determine a way to
integrate the world’s fastest growing medium into its operations. What began six
months ago as a search to extend Global’s existing divisions into cyberspace quickly
evolved into what we believe is the next generation of the Web-centric e-commerce
model. After conducting extensive research we realized that the best opportunity in the
online sporting goods category was not taking our wholesale companies vertical or
inventing a new Internet-only brand but rather in leveraging the tremendous built-in
advantages of leading traditional retailers. It was also evident that even the largest and
best operated sporting goods chains were not positioned to develop a best-of-breed
e-commerce business on their own, given the high cost of building the right technology
and organization, their lack of fulfillment capabilities and their need to remain focused
on their core businesses. Bottom line, without an outsourcing partner I do not believe
that traditional retailers could execute a sound economic e-commerce model.”

Based on the terms of GSI’s agreements, each of its retail partners has committed to
prominently integrate its Web site address “URL” into all of its marketing and
communications materials, including television, radio, print and outdoor advertising as
well as shopping bags and cash register receipts. GSI anticipates that the substantial
reach of its clients’ advertising and marketing expenditures, which total more than $50
million on a combined annual basis, together with the integration of their URL’s into
this marketing, will drive meaningful traffic to its Web sites. This should enable the
company to generate strong revenues without making uneconomic incremental
investments in customer acquisition.

Rubin continued, “The world has become enamored with the Web-centric model that
requires enormous investments in brand building and customer acquisition. In my view,
it is questionable as to whether these investments for many players will ever pay off,
and I truly believe that our model, which builds partnerships with retailers that already
have established brands and customers, makes the most long-term economic sense.”

Robert Corliss, Chief Executive Officer of The Athlete’s Foot noted, “With our
company’s well known brand name and recently adopted policy of integrating the
www.theathletesfoot.com URL into all advertising, we are already aware of the ability to
drive substantial traffic to our Web site without incremental investments. By partnering
with GSI we are best positioned to convert this traffic into a meaningful commerce
opportunity based on their commitment to developing world class technology and
operating systems and the strength of their management team.”

GSI’s retail partners will receive a revenue share of online merchandise sales
generated from their Web sites and will not be required to make any investments in the
development or operation of their Internet strategy. This will ensure GSI’s clients of
having a profitable e-commerce business from inception. In all instances, GSI will
record more than 90% of the value of merchandise transactions on its Web sites as
revenues, while the revenue share to its retail partners represents a bottom line
contribution that is superior to the average returns in the sporting goods industry.
Many leading traditional retailers have been forced to incur substantial losses while
playing catch-up with fast moving Web-centric competitors. GSI’s partners will avoid
start-up losses and grab a strong position in the online sporting goods category before
a Web-centric competitor has had an opportunity to establish a dominant share of the
market.

Craig Levra, President of Sport Chalet stated, “While categories such as books and
financial services have been turned upside down by the infiltration of internet start-ups,
the sporting goods category has yet to feel the full brunt of e-commerce and remains a
wide open opportunity for companies like Sport Chalet. We view our relationship with
GSI as a means to aggressively pursue this opening while also helping to strengthen a
model that will erect significant barriers for Internet-only companies to compete
against.”

GSI will operate as a completely separate division of Global Sports, Inc. Michael
Rubin, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Global Sports, Inc., will serve as Chief
Executive Officer of GSI and will devote the substantial majority of his time to building
and operating this business. Bob Liewald, formerly with Fila and Venator, and Michael
Golden, formerly with Organic Inc. and Bates Worldwide, will serve as Executive Vice
Presidents of GSI (details under separate press release). In addition, Global’s Chief
Financial Officer, Steve Wolf, and Senior Vice President of Strategic Development,
Michael Conn, will serve in the same capacities for GSI, where the majority of their
time will now be devoted. Global Sports, Inc. also announced today the expansion of
its board of directors to four members through the addition of Harvard Business School
professor and leading e-commerce consultant Jeffrey F. Rayport (details under
separate press release).

Al Fasola, Chief Executive Officer of Sports & Recreation, said, “Our recent name
change back to Sports & Recreation represented an important reconnection with our
proud brand heritage. Today’s announcement of our partnership with GSI marks one of
several key initiatives that will build the foundation for our future. Our research clearly
showed us that to build an e-commerce business the right way would cost at least $10
million-$15 million. By partnering with GSI, which has the advantage of spreading
these costs across multiple businesses, we are able to offer a world class service to
our customers while generating great returns for our shareholders.”

Newly appointed board member Jeffrey F. Rayport said, “I truly believe that GSI is
launching what will be recognized as a breakthrough business model for retailers
moving to the Web-one that addresses the question of how traditional brick-and-mortar
retailers can compete online. Today, off-line vs. on-line businesses are competing with
entirely mismatched advantages. Web-pure players have best-of-breed technology but
must spend enormous sums of money to acquire customers, while traditional
land-based retailers have brands and customers but must spend richly to access the
technology capabilities. GSI represents a combination of the key assets of off-line and
on-line retailing, bringing together the best-known brands in the sporting goods
business and their loyal customers with the best skills in the industry for creating and
optimizing on-line shopping experiences. For GSI’s retail partners, this represents a
tremendous opportunity to integrate e-commerce into their existing businesses the
right way. For GSI, it represents the assets that every Web-based retailer most needs.
It’s a true win-win.”

In addition to joining forces with several leading sporting goods retailers, GSI has
partnered with world class companies for technology & creative development and
operations management. Organic Inc., a leading online business builder, whose clients
have included Barnes and Noble, Gateway, Iomega and Starbucks, is working with
GSI to build its initial technology platform and front-end Web sites. ClientLogic, a
leading provider of logistics and fulfillment and a division of the $11 billion Canadian
conglomerate Onex, will provide operational support including state-of-the-art customer
service and fulfillment. ClientLogic’s existing customers include, Dell Computer,
Readers Digest, Williams Sonoma, Iomega, and Warner Brothers Studio Stores. Both
companies have formed strategic relationships with GSI by which GSI is their
exclusive partner for the sporting goods category.

Michael Golden, Executive Vice President of GSI, said, “We are excited to be
partnering with company’s of the caliber of Organic and ClientLogic as we work to build
the best e-commerce shopping experiences. In industry after industry it has been
proven that the companies with the most innovative and easiest to navigate Web sites
and the highest quality fulfillment and customer service capabilities are the most
successful in e-commerce. While meaningful investments are required to build a
best-of-breed shopping experience it is people that truly make the difference, and with
the organization we have begun assembling internally together with our world class
partners, I am confident that GSI will truly be recognized as a leader in the sporting
goods e-commerce category.”

Bruce Ullery, Chief Executive Officer of MC Sports, noted, “MC Sports has been built
on the strength of our customer relationships, some of which date back more than 50
years. We have always prided ourselves on servicing this customer in the best
possible manner, and with the recent explosion of e-commerce we have quickly
recognized the need to have a quality presence on the Internet to continue to fulfill this
promise. The reality is, many of our consumers are going to shop on line, whether we
are there or not. With GSI, not only will we maintain a relationship with this customer,
but we will continue to serve them with the same world class standards that we have
established in our land based stores.”

In total, retail sales of GSI’s five partners amounted to more than $1.6 billion in 1998,
with each of the five companies ranking among the 20 largest full-line sporting goods
and athletic specialty chains in the United States.

Bob Liewald, Executive Vice President of GSI, said, “By exploiting the compelling
brand name offerings of our retail partners, our merchandising team will be able to
present consumers with the best selection of sporting goods online. Clearly this has
been easier to accomplish in other industries that benefit from having large master
distributors, a situation that does not exist in sporting goods, but we believe that by
leveraging the buying talents of our partners with the expertise of our e-commerce
merchandising organization we will be able to build the right assortments while still
maintaining strong inventory turnover and minimizing markdowns. In many commodity
driven industries, Internet start-ups have competed by driving down prices. GSI firmly
recognizes that sporting goods is a category driven by brands, not commodities, and
as such is not designed to undercut the prices of land-based retailers. The $79 million
of online sporting goods sales that Forrester Research estimates occurred in 1998 (a
level that is greater than the value of estimated online toy sales last year) was not
driven by price discounting and demonstrates that consumers will purchase sporting
goods over the Internet at established price levels.”

Michael Conn, Senior Vice President of Strategic Development for Global Sports
Interactive, commented, “The recent streamlining of our Branded Division management
structure has ideally positioned our company’s three divisions to operate as
completely separate entities, with each of the management teams fully focussed on
running their respective businesses. With the formation of GSI, Global Sports, Inc. is
aggressively entering the most compelling growth opportunity of the last century.
While our Branded and Off-Price & Action Sports divisions have followed strategies of
focussing on niche opportunities, Global Sports Interactive is intended to rapidly
pursue industry leadership in an on-line sporting goods market that we expect to reach
at least $3.0 billion within five years. Thus, we anticipate this division quickly becoming
our largest and highest profile segment.”

Press Conference

GSI will be hosting a press conference at 11:00 a.m. at the W Hotel in New York City
in the Forrest II Ballroom. The W Hotel is located at 541 Lexington Avenue at 49th
Street.

Global Sports, Inc. (http://www.GS-Interactive.com) is a diversified sporting goods
company consisting of three divisions: Global Sports Interactive, The Branded division
and the Off-Price and Action Sports Division. Global Sports Interactive is an
e-commerce company that operates the Internet businesses of The Athlete’s Foot,
Sport Chalet, MC Sports, Sports & Recreation and one other retailer with more than
$200 million in annual sales. The company is contractually not permitted to disclose
its fifth partner until its Web site is operational. The Branded division designs and
markets the RYKD and YUKON footwear brands. The Off Price and Action Sports
division is a leading third-party distributor and make-to-order marketer of off-price
footwear, apparel and sporting goods.

The Athlete’s Foot operates more than 750 corporate and franchise stores in 43
countries worldwide and has signed deals to open another 100 stores in 1999. The
Atlanta-based company is one of the leading retailers of athletic shoes in the world
and was named Success magazine’s number one franchise company for 1997. The
Athlete’s Foot is the only retailer that operates its own independent research and
testing facility which evaluates every major athletic shoe brand for construction,
durability and performance.

Sports & Recreation Inc., (formerly known as JumboSports) based in Tampa Florida,
operates 42 sporting goods superstores in 18 states. The company is a full-line retailer
of quality name brand sports equipment, athletic apparel and footwear.

MC Sports, a full line sporting goods retailer, was founded in 1946 in Grand Rapids,
MI. With 65 stores throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Missouri and Kansas, MC
Sports offers full service and a large selection of Ski and Ski Wear, Athletic Footwear,
Athletic Apparel, Exercise Equipment, Tennis, Golf, Basketball, Baseball, Soccer and
more. Through Service, Selection and Convenience, we at MC Sports are committed to
providing quality sports equipment, footwear and apparel to our customers.

Sport Chalet is a leading operator of full service specialty sporting goods superstores
in Southern California, offering over 35 services for the serious sports enthusiast,
including ski rental and repair, full dive training and certification programs, SCUBA
charters, team sales, racquet stringing, and bicycle tune up and repair through its 19
locations.

Organic Inc. (http://www.organic.com) has been helping clients build businesses
online since 1993. Their integrated structure, comprehensive capabilities, strategic
insight and experience in the industry have made them uniquely able to create effective
E-commerce and communications solutions for their clients. The company offers
expertise in: strategic marketing and technology consulting; online advertising and
promotions development; media planning and placement, public relations and
enhanced communications services; research services and facilities; user interface
design and turnkey production services; software development; and web site
operations.

ClientLogic (http://www.clientlogic.com) was formed in October 1998, when
SOFTBANK Services Group was acquired by Onex Corporation, of Toronto, Ontario,
and combined with North Direct Response, Inc., a leading Canadian outsourced
customer service provider also owned by Onex. In January 1999, ClientLogic acquired
LCS Industries, Inc. (LCS), a composite of several professionally managed outsourced
service subsidiaries. As ClientLogic, these newly combined companies leverage their
core competencies toward implementing customer management service solutions for
clients worldwide.

Note: The current Web sites operated by GSI’s partners have not been built by GSI
and are not operated by GSI. These Web sites will be replaced by ones built by GSI at
a later date in 1999.

Contact:

Media:
Dan Klores Associates
Peter Seligman/Scott Miranda/Scott Novak
(212) 685-4300



Global Sports, Inc.
Investor:
Michael R. Conn
Senior VP Strategic Development
(610) 768-0900
Connm@globalsportsinc.com