T
The Players' Tribune
Consumer Services · New York City, United States · Founded 2014
A new media company that provides athletes with a platform to connect directly with their fans, in their own words MoreLess
The Players' Tribune is a media platform established to provide athletes with a direct channel to communicate with their fans. It was founded in October 2014 by former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, shortly after his retirement from baseball. Jeter's vision, conceived with co-founder Jaymee Messler, was to create a space where athletes could share their stories and perspectives without the filter of traditional media. This was born from Jeter's own experience with the media and his desire for athletes to control their own narratives.
The platform publishes first-person stories from professional athletes in various formats, including written articles, video series, and podcasts. The content, which is developed collaboratively between the athlete and an editorial team, often covers personal topics like mental health, social justice, and career milestones, such as Kobe Bryant's famous "Dear Basketball" retirement announcement that was later adapted into an Academy Award-winning short film. The business serves a dual clientele: the athletes who contribute content and the fans who consume it, as well as corporate brands seeking authentic marketing channels. The primary revenue stream is derived from branded and sponsored content, where The Players' Tribune partners with companies like Porsche, Toyota, and American Family Insurance to create customized campaigns featuring athletes. This model allows brands to align with compelling stories that resonate with consumers.
After raising a total of $58 million in venture funding from investors including New Enterprise Associates and Alphabet's GV, The Players' Tribune was acquired by Minute Media in November 2019. This acquisition was a strategic move to accelerate global growth by leveraging Minute Media's technology and international reach. Derek Jeter remains involved with the company, having joined Minute Media's board of directors following the acquisition. Under Minute Media, The Players' Tribune continues to operate as a standalone brand and is exploring new revenue streams, including content licensing for film and television and print publishing.
Keywords: athlete storytelling, sports media, first-person narratives, branded content, digital media, content platform, Derek Jeter, athlete empowerment, sports marketing, video production
Company overview
The Players' Tribune company information
The essential company record, classifications and operating signals in one place.
- Status
- Operational
- Founded
- 2014
- Headquarters
- New York City, United States
- Employees
- 53
- Open positions
- 2
- Dealroom signal
- 59.9
Valuation & funding
The Players' Tribune funding history
Company financing events and reported valuations.
| Deal type | Date | Amount | Valuation | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SERIES COther financing | Jan 2017 | $40M | $160M | NEA · IVP · Thomas Tull · GenTrust | — |
| SERIES BOther financing | Oct 2015 | $5.5M | $22M | NEA · Bryant Stibel Investments | — |
| SERIES BOther financing | Jun 2015 | $9.5M | $38M | NEA · Legendary Entertainment | — |
| SERIES AOther financing | Jul 2014 | $3M | $12M | United Talent Agency | — |
Growth signals
The Players' Tribune website traffic
Latest recorded traffic for The Players' Tribune is 650K monthly website visits, up 25% over the last three months. The Players' Tribune's team declined 31.2% over the past year.
Comparisons
The Players' Tribune compared with similar companies
Dealroom’s weighted taxonomy model identifies the closest operating peers. Company identity and context stay open; selected comparison metrics preview what is available in the platform.
Talent graph
The Players' Tribune's talent
Source: Dealroom Talent Intelligence.
Global footprint
Where The Players' Tribune has talent and traffic
team presence
In the news
Latest news about The Players' Tribune
Recent press, funding announcements, and product moves mentioning The Players' Tribune — open to read from the original sources.
Market sentiment
What the market is saying about The Players' Tribune
An AI-synthesized read of the highest-engagement posts about The Players' Tribune on X over the past 7 days. We rank by likes & retweets, ignore corporate channels, and surface the themes that broke out from real people.
Reading the room on X — pulling top posts and synthesizing themes…
Source: X recent search ranked by engagement (likes + retweets) · Synthesis by Claude · Cached for 1 hour
See The Players' Tribune’s full profile on Dealroom
Request a free trial to see the complete deal history, financials, people graph and growth signals.
Takes under a minute. Already use Dealroom? Log in.