MOJO Sports, a youth sports media platform founded by former Disney-ABC Television Group President Ben Sherwood in 2019 and backed by Denver Broncos star quarterback Russell Wilson, has been acquired by TeamSnap, a leading provider of team management apps for Pony, AYSO and other kiddie sports leagues.
MOJO Sports' Santa Monica-based staff will be integrated into Boulder, Colo.-based TeamSnap, and CEO Sherwood will join as a member of the executive board.
“TeamSnap and Mojo are a perfect fit,” said Sherwood in a statement. “We share a common vision of transforming youth sports with the best of content and technology. Together we can create truly unforgettable experiences for players, families, fans, and sports organizations.”
In an interview with CNBC, Sherwood noted that his experience traveling around the U.S. as he coached his son in baseball, flag football, basketball and soccer inspired him to create his video-based platform, which combines live-game streaming and coaching instruction.
“I wasn’t very good at it, but I loved it,” Sherwood said. “As I got ready to leave Disney in 2019, my thought was how could we bring a little bit of Disney magic to youth sports and build a consumer-facing app that helps parent like me who wanted to be involved.”
TeamSnap, founded in 2009 to organize sports rosters and schedules and enable communication between parents and coaches, has an audience of over 25 million, and more than 2 million daily active users, according to its website. And access to its platform could allow MOJO to scale its streaming and training content to a much broader audience than its current 5 million users.
After a pandemic slump, when COVID restrictions limited social interactions and events, the youth sports market as a whole is finally heating back up, according to a report by the Aspen Institute.
With an estimated 60 million youth athletes across the U.S., children’s sports generate an approximate $37.5 billion annually, according to the Sports Business Journal.
That’s nearly double the yearly revenue of the NFL. And with publicly transparent investments of just over $1 billion specifically into youth sports tech over the last five years, there’s huge potential for growth.
"This is a defining moment for TeamSnap and for youth sports,” said TeamSnap CEO Peter Frintzilas, in a statement.
The MOJO acquisition, he said, "combined with the significant investment we have put into the TeamSnap platform over the last 2-plus years, and the distribution power of our millions of active users, solidifies our position as a leader in this next evolutionary phase of sports technology."
Both platforms include their own administrative and distribution capabilities, which enable partners like Jr. NBA and NFL FLAG to curate and distribute content to participants at scale, according to a press release by TeamSnap.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“I’m excited for the impact this partnership will have on youth sports and families everywhere,” said backer Russell Wilson. “As a parent, volunteer, and coach, I'm deeply connected to our mission at MOJO, which is to enhance the youth sports experience … the combined new platform will be unstoppable in helping us reach that goal.”
