When Guidrey saw the growth of first-person athlete content on websites like Uninterrupted and The Players’ Tribune, things changed.
When Guidrey remarks, “I recognized a problem,” “Production companies were being established by athletes, but they lacked distribution.”
With food shows, reality shows, and programming that humanized athletes beyond their uniforms, he envisioned a specialized channel that highlighted the athlete lifestyle outside of competition. He contacted Castellaw and offered a collaboration that would leverage Castellaw’s abilities in digital marketing and content creation with his experience in talent management and marketing.
Guidrey explains, “I followed Jay-Z’s lead when he started Tidal, which brought artists together to create their own music streaming platform.” “I used athletes to illustrate the same idea—a platform that belongs to them, for them.” PlayersTV was created as a result.
Built by athletes. Powered by fans
With three thousand hours of licensed and original content, PlayersTV is the first media network owned by athletes and fans. It is about to launch its own direct-to-consumer streaming service and has distribution agreements with well-known platforms like DIRECTV, FuboTV, YouTube TV, and Fire TV. The Jay-Z line apparently appealed to investors.
In Castellaw’s words, “We are not just a production company creating IP,” “Our main goal is to ensure that material receives 10 to 20 million views. Nobody in this field has ever unlocked that much at our level.
The success of PlayersTV may be attributed in large part to the groundwork that the two built before to the debut.
According to Guidrey, “We looked at the problem first,” “Suppose 40 athletes want to produce content, but there are not enough buyers to accommodate them.”
By being the preferred platform for creative players looking for distribution, PlayersTV hopes to relieve agencies of the burden of negotiating deals with more discerning networks.
Castellaw states, “Anime has Crunchyroll, cartoons have Cartoon Network, and now this content has a home too.”
He draws attention to how little sports content is available on popular sites. “There is only a handful of sports content every year if you look at places like Netflix,” he says. “We always say that there is an opportunity for aggregation where there is fragmentation.”
From spectators to shareholders
The Fan Ownership Initiative, which enables sports fans to purchase modest shares in the company in exchange for benefits like access to exclusive events and, of course, the bragging rights of owning an athlete media company, is one of PlayersTV’s most distinctive features.
With the help of more than 2,200 “fan owners,” this campaign raised almost $3 million, establishing PlayersTV the first media company owned by athletes and fans.
According to Castellaw, the initiative’s guiding principle is as straightforward as this: If you want to move quickly, move alone. Go together if you want to go far.
He claims that “we point to our fan shareholders as proof of concept when an investor questions our valuation or market traction.” “It is a clear endorsement from the very audience that we want to reach with our content.”
Guidrey continues, “We position ourselves to attract investors on our own terms by putting athletes and fans first.” “The athletes found great resonance with the ownership concept with fans, and it even enabled us to make our first acquisition—a business that was purchased with the backing of our athlete and fan shareholders. How awesome is that?
By combining their special talents, recognizing important issues, and adhering to their basic principles, Guidrey and Castellaw realized their vision. Although there is still more work to be done, Guidrey hopes the firm will be the first athlete-owned IPO to go public.
According to Guidrey, “the desire to make a lasting impact, not just chase money, drives everything we do.” “We want our story to inspire other founders like us, even though we may not be well-known in Hollywood.”
