MLB.Com Selects GSI Commerce to Develop and Operate New E-Commerce Store
NEW YORK, NEW YORK and KING OF PRUSSIA, PENNSYLVANIA, December 15, 2003 – MLB Advanced Media, LP (MLBAM), the interactive media and Internet company of Major League Baseball, today announced that it has selected GSI Commerce (NASDAQ: GSIC) as its new outsource provider to operate the e-commerce store located at MLB.com and the 30 official MLB Club websites.
GSI Commerce will provide e-commerce technology, fulfillment, and customer service while MLBAM will continue to provide merchandising and marketing for the MLB.com store.
The new MLB.com store, which is expected to launch in the first quarter of 2004, will combine the broad selection of merchandise it currently offers with enhanced e-commerce capabilities, including enhanced search, navigation, and personalization features.
Michael Rubin, Chairman and CEO of GSI Commerce, said, “We are very pleased to have been selected by MLBAM to operate the new MLB.com store and provide the upgraded functionality that MLBAM is looking for. MLBAM is both a leader and an innovator in providing information and entertainment to the enormous base of avid Major League Baseball fans around the world through MLB.com. We are excited about the opportunity to provide an enhanced shopping experience to the users of the MLB.com store.”
Noah Garden, senior vice president of e-commerce for MLB Advanced Media, said, “We conducted a thorough analysis of e-commerce providers in order to upgrade our e-commerce offering and provide the best possible shopping experience to our fans. We chose GSI Commerce as it is a proven leader in e-commerce outsourcing. We look forward to working with them and for visitors to the MLB.com shop to benefit from their demonstrated e-commerce expertise.”
About MLB Advanced Media, LP
Established in June 2000 following a unanimous vote by the 30 Major League Baseball club owners to centralize all of Baseball’s Internet operations, MLB Advanced Media LP (MLBAM) is the interactive media and internet company of Major League Baseball. MLBAM manages the official league site, www.MLB.com, and each of the 30 individual Club sites to create the most comprehensive Major League Baseball resource on the Internet. MLB.com offers fans the most complete baseball information on the web, including up-to-date statistics, game summaries, extensive historical information, and exclusive features about Major League Baseball events and programs, including on-line ticket sales, baseball merchandise, authenticated memorabilia and collectibles, fantasy games, live and archived radio broadcasts of every game, live and archived video webcasts of entire games, pitch-by-pitch enactment of games, and hosted post-game video highlight shows. MLB.com offered more live events on the Internet than any other website in the world, with over 40,000 hours of live programming in 2003. Fans listened or watched nearly 600 million minutes of streaming audio and video during the year.
About GSI Commerce
GSI Commerce is a leading outsource solution provider for e-commerce. The company develops and operates e-commerce businesses for retailers, branded manufacturers, media companies, television networks and professional sports organizations. The GSI Commerce platform includes Web site design and development, e-commerce technology, customer service, fulfillment, merchandising, content development and management, and online and database marketing.
Forward-Looking Statements
All statements made in this release other than statements of historical fact are or will be forward-looking statements. The words “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “may”, “plan”, “will”, “would”, “should”, “guidance”, “potential”, “continue”, “project”, “forecast”, “confident”, “prospects”, and similar expressions typically are used to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the then-current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates and forecasts about the business of GSI Commerce and the industry and markets in which the company operates. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, uncertainties and assumptions which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Factors which may affect GSI Commerce’s business, financial condition and operating results include the effects of changes in the economy, consumer spending, the stock market and the industries in which GSI Commerce operates, changes affecting the Internet and e-commerce, the ability of the company to develop and maintain relationships with strategic partners and suppliers, the ability of the company to timely and successfully develop, maintain and protect its technology and product and service offerings and execute operationally, the ability of the company to attract and retain qualified personnel, the ability of the company to successfully integrate its acquisitions of other businesses, if any, and the performance of acquired businesses. More information about potential factors that could affect GSI Commerce can be found in its most recent Form 10-K, Form 10-Q and other reports and statements filed by GSI Commerce with the Securities and Exchange Commission. GSI Commerce expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as otherwise specifically stated by GSI Commerce.
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