Reeplayer CEO On ‘End Pay To Play’ Initiative
This was spirited!
Reeplayer founder and CEO Orhan Basak Ajredinovski joined the Buying Sandlot podcast to discuss his company’s new “End Pay To Play” campaign.
How it works: The AI-powered camera maker partners a brand sponsor with a youth sports team; the sponsorship gives the brand exclusive marketing on the team’s live streams, and Reeplayer sends 40% of its profits to the team.
We have been skeptical of the messaging and asked specifically about the math on this. The answer is nuanced and yielded a thoughtful discussion on what streaming sponsorship can and can’t do.
You need to listen/watch in full to get the full breadth of the wide-ranging conversation. But some highlights:
Sponsorship packages start at $5K; about $2.7K of that goes toward covering a team’s camera and live streaming package
Sponsors would continue to cover streaming (about $1.2K) in future years
Ajredinovski said Reeplayer is currently sending $1K to $3K to teams
Reeplayer plans to tell families how much their team got to ensure funds are deployed properly
Ajredinovski said Reeplayer has six brands on board with the initiative, including the Exer Urgent Care chain; he did not specify the number of cameras sponsored
Ajredinovski also said Reeplayer has had talks with Bank of America
Onto the takes!
I am going to rehash something I asked on the podcast a few months ago:
What is an acceptable cost for youth sports?
I realize this is a bit of a nebulous question. But I think it is one we have to answer for action to be taken and progress to be made. Because making it free for all is a) not a realistic goal and b) would likely have a negative impact on outcomes and quality.
We’re comparing apples and kumquats here, but society has kind of agreed it wants gas to be $3 a gallon and things get really painful when you hit $4.
There are obviously many more variables at play with youth sports. But the goal should be to reach a sweet spot that facilitates maximum participation in the wide middle and has the ability to assist the low end while acknowledging the top end will always exist and does not hinder everyone else.
Also: Ajredinovski talked about how sponsors can see actual proof their investment is working from a business perspective, as opposed to when they would slap their brand on a jersey front or an outfield sign and hope for the best. And he’s absolutely right — to a point.
I come at this from a journalism perspective. Newspapers spent decades providing coverage of what was believed to be of importance, interest and relevance to the audience. And then the internet took off, actual metrics emerged and it completely overhauled editorial decisions and news judgment.
But sometimes the correction goes too far. Just because the “Real Housewives” recaps get 10x the web traffic of a report about the state legislature does not mean you abandon the latter. There are just some things that transcend the conventional wisdom and should continue as is.
I wonder if the “traditional” approach to youth sports sponsorship will prove to be just that, especially at the local level.
Joe’s Pizza can pay $5K to have its ads on the Smallville Smashers 8U live streams and maybe sell $6K in pies while the team gets cut a $1K check. Or they can hand $5K directly to the team and get their name on the jersey because it is important to the community, regardless of the ROI.
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