User:M at MinuteMedia/The Players' Tribune Draft

The Players' Tribune is a media outlet that publishes content from professional athletes. It was founded in 2014 by former Major League Baseball player Derek Jeter and marketing executive Jaymee Messler. Content on the site includes podcasts, written stories, videos, and more.

History
The Players' Tribune launched in October 2014 by Jeter and Messler as a means for athletes to offer more direct insight into their lives. The outlet began collecting venture capital funds in 2015 and entered a "next phase" which included expanding content from the written word to include podcasts, video, and a presence on SiriusXM satellite radio. The same year, the outlet launched TPT Assist, a cause-related platform designed to allow athletes to share their philanthropic endeavors. In 2018, The Players' Tribune purchased Unscriptd, a tech startup that produces short-form video content. The following year, the outlet laid off eight employees.

Technology and content company Minute Media purchased The Players' Tribune in November 2019, adding the outlet to a group of properties that includes DBLTAP, 90min, The Big Lead, FanSided and Mental Floss.

In 2021, The Players' Tribune expanded into Brazil and Japan, partnering with NBA player Yuta Watanabe Will, Formula 1 driver Yuki Tsunoda, and soccer player Mana Iwabuchi in the Japanese expansion.

Content and platform
The platform's content includes first-person written stories, videos, podcasts, and photo galleries. Topics covered by the platform include mental health, athlete retirements, social justice issues, and more. All content is approved by the athletes before it is posted, with some exercising greater control over the finished product than others; however, the content is largely ghostwritten by uncredited journalists, with close oversight by the athlete. The site's former editorial director, Gary Hoenig, noted the stories are largely crafted from "monologues, with questions to nudge the conversation along," rather than a traditional interview.

Athletes such as former MLB player David Ortiz and former NBA player Kobe Bryant have used the platform to announce their retirements. Bryant's retirement announcement, titled "Dear Basketball", was turned into an Academy Award-winning short film of the same name in 2017.

Pieces from athletes have on occasion broken into mainstream media conversations, including articles by Kevin Love and Larry Sanders on mental health, Natasha Cloud on racism and social justice, and Breanna Stewart on child sexual abuse.

In addition to written pieces, the outlet also produces podcasts and videos, notably the Knuckleheads podcast, hosted by former NBA players Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles; Truss Levelz, hosted by NFL players Cameron Jordan and Mark Ingram II; and Blindsided, hosted by former NHL player Corey Hirsch and Dr. Diane McIntosh.

Sponsors and partnerships
Several sponsors have signed a deal with The Players' Tribune. Porsche debuted as their first sponsor, as well as Powerade, Dove, Toyota, Red Bull, and Built with Chocolate Milk. The outlet partnered with American Family Insurance in 2016 and collaborated with the Amazon Prime Video television series Jack Ryan.

Reception
The response to The Players' Tribune from critics has been mixed, with New York Times reporter Amos Barshad noting the outlet filled a "dire need" for athletes to be able to openly express themselves, while noting that the way the outlet allows athletes to have final say on an article or video causes the work produced by The Players' Tribune to lie somewhere between journalism and public relations.

Some sports writers have also questioned what the existence of The Players' Tribune means for traditional sports reporting and if the outlet's existence somehow hurts traditional reporting. Jeter responded to that notion, saying, "We're not trying to take away from sportswriters. Sportswriters are what makes sports successful," in an interview with ESPN, and later saying he thought traditional sports media and The Players' Tribune could "coexist."

The Players' Tribune has won several awards for its content, including a Webby Award in 2020 for the video series "My Dream" by Dani Alves.