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Sporty take on MySpace launched: Novatans on the Internet with SportsMates.com
by William Southall
Advance Intern
August 30, 2006
Novato residents Blair Cummins, 25, and Richard Austin, 26, are in the sports
business and they have a history of it too. The two built Anna Kournikova's
website in 2001 and Austin is a co-founder of tennisuniverse.com. Kournikova's
website now boasts over 326,000 registered users.
Their newest project is recently launched SportsMates (www.sportsmates.com),
which Cummins says is, “basically Myspace for sports.” One can
build a profile free of charge with a picture, can add friends, send messages,
post topics on boards, search for friends, and post blogs. “It provides
a centralized location for sports fans to connect and communicate with each
other,” Cummins added.
There are differences between the two, both technical and in how both generate
revenue. On the technical level, SportsMates uses a much more advanced and
robust platform than Myspace.
Currently, SportsMates generates a bit of revenue from the Google Adsense
banner ads, but both Cummins and Austin want to switch from that to sponsorships.
For that to happen, companies who advertise a lot in the world of sports
such as Nike and Gatorade would run a promotion program on SportsMates.
A promotion program is a campaign targeted at a particular audience; an
example of one is an online contest. With this setup, it is a three-way
win situation. Companies win by advertising their products to people online,
SportsMates would be paid by the company to use the online platform, and
the users of SportsMates win by potentially obtaining prizes. That is a
key component of Cummins' and Austin's business plan, one that has been
used to teach students at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts.
At the moment, SportsMates has not had any companies come to sponsor, but
they are in negotiations with a major NASCAR sponsor.
Another feature that distinguishes SportsMates from Myspace is a points
system. In the near future, those who accumulate points are rewarded with
prizes. There are a number of ways to get points such as posting on a message
board or inviting a friend. It is also possible to lose points by actions
such as swearing or spamming.
SportsMates is for just about every sport under the sun from the less popular
games like Lacrosse to immensely popular games like American football and
baseball. Whichever sport, “SportsMates enables you to find people
who like the same teams or play the same sports, said Cummins. |
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