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Social Sports "Fan Card" Service Snags Tim Lincecum, Brett Favre And Over 1,200 Other Athletes

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Professional athletes have a variety of options to communicate and engage with their fan-bases.  Some athletes choose to set up a Facebook page and post updates, photos and contests.  Others select to activate their followers on Twitter and submit messages in 140 characters or less.  If an athlete wants to share video updates, he can create a YouTube channel and upload videos.  But the myriad of social media sites can make it confusing and time consuming for a fan to get the information about the sports heroes they admire.  A company named Virtual Fan Network (VFN), started in June 2011 by former LSU shortstop Brian Wilhite, packages all of an athlete's social content into a "fan card," making it easy for consumers to receive the information they crave and providing a new source of revenue for athletes and their representatives.

Thus far, over 1,200 athletes have become involved with VFN, including Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito, Matt Cain and Hunter Pence, all members of the World Series-bound San Francisco Giants.  Former NFL quarterback Brett Favre has also become VFN's official NFL Ambassador.  "[VFN] is so simple...I was sold right away," said Favre.  "I can't say I understand the technology behind it or how it works, but it's marketing that eliminates the middleman.  It wasn't possible until this."

What is unique about VFN is that its assets act as advertising units, can be placed anywhere on the web and are easily accessible on mobile devices.  "The individual athlete didn't have a platform that really allowed him to engage with an audience and ultimately be able to monetize that audience," explained Wilhite.  "We created a virtual fan network that is a turnkey platform of digital assets.  We manage the whole process and share ad revenue with athlete."  VFN receives payments from brands that sponsor fan cards and by integrating advertising networks into its service.  Popchips teamed up with VFN, and the brand saw an 18% sales lift nationally.  Blackrock iShares, Gatorade, and Limos.com have all run advertising campaigns on VFN, as well.

A plethora of information about a player is packaged into a fan card, which includes real-time updates, an athlete's stats and sometimes more personal items such as an athlete's favorite music and/or charity.  The goal is to provide consumers with an athlete's complete digital presence in one location.  VFN's first athlete client was pitcher Tim Lincecum of the Giants.  The company now has a digital license with the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), which grants it access to all Major League Baseball players.  It has also structured deals with over twenty sports agencies on behalf of their clientele.

Wilhite admits that most athletes do not have a social graph large enough to motive a brand to get involved with them, but he believes in his technology platform that he says conforms to how advertisers spend money online.  "We deliver a really engaging and cool experience that allows people to engage with a sports hero.  We are really dedicated to that fan sports hero experience."  VFN hopes to exploit that experience to continue to enable athletes to make off-the-field money and build their personal brands socially in conjunction with providing brands a new, precise social media channel.

Darren Heitner is an attorney at Wolfe Law Miami, P.A. in Miami, Florida, Founder of Sports Agent Blog, and Professor of Sport Agency Management at Indiana University.  Follow him at @DarrenHeitner and learn more about him at http://www.darrenheitner.com.