February 19, 2008 09:00 ET

Introducing Bleacher Report, a Community-Driven Online Sports Network That's Home to the Best Fan-Generated Sports Coverage Anywhere on the Web

Bleacher Report Leverages Benefits of Web 2.0 to Improve the Fan Experience, Secures Series A Funding

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - February 19, 2008) - Following months of beta testing, Bleacher Report (www.bleacherreport.com) formally launched its community-driven online sports network today, providing all sports fans one place to create, critique and consume compelling coverage on their favorite college and professional teams. Bleacher Report's open, collaborative platform features a peer-editing system that helps ensure high quality fan-generated coverage on the site. While in beta, the site grew to more than 400,000 monthly unique visitors and 2,000 original sports editorials published per month -- drastically outpacing similar outlets in both web and print media. In addition, Bleacher Report announced it has raised a Series A round of funding led by Hillsven Capital, a partnership of Bobby Lent and Boris Putanec, former co-founders of Ariba Inc., along with other investors.

The Idea behind Bleacher Report

Bleacher Report was founded by Dave Finocchio, Alexander Freund, Bryan Goldberg, and Dave Nemetz, four lifelong sports fans from Silicon Valley. The group shared a belief that mainstream sports media didn't offer the range or depth of coverage to satisfy diehards, and that some of the most insightful analysis comes from the fans who know their teams best. With Bleacher Report, they created a platform to empower all fans to become fan-journalists, producing high-quality content and sharing it with a built-in readership of hundreds of thousands.

"This site is about unleashing the 'wisdom of the fans,'" founder Dave Nemetz said. "As sports culture junkies ourselves, we've found that the people who eat, sleep and breathe the game tend to be the experts."

A Network for Sports Fans by Sports Fans

Bleacher Report removes the largest barriers that exist for fans looking to share their opinions with others. Unlike starting an independent blog, the site offers instant gratification in the form of a built-in readership. While creating a blog, promoting its content, and updating it on a daily basis to build readership can be cumbersome, Bleacher Report bypasses those obstacles, instantly exposing every writer on the site to an audience of thousands. And there is no pressure to post constantly to build readership so members can simply write as frequently or infrequently as they like.

For existing bloggers, the site serves as a powerful syndication tool. Bloggers can add their URL to their Bleacher Report profile and every post will automatically be added to Bleacher Report, reaching the site's large and rapidly growing audience.

Bleacher Report maintains high-quality content through a combination of automated filters and a unique peer-editing process that encourages members to actively engage in reviewing and improving the quality of other writers' content. All this helps ensure the best coverage and the best writers are prominently showcased. The Bleacher Report site was built using the cutting-edge Ruby on Rails programming framework.

Dynamic social networking features help engage readers and writers alike, fostering provocative discussion and healthy debate. The Bleacher Report community rewards the most active and insightful writers with ratings that boost their stories higher on the site and help them build their online reputations. Following are some of the more popular features at Bleacher Report:

--  Bleacher Report Member Profiles. Bio information includes recent
    articles written by the member, a Bulletin Board for messages from others
    in the community and a complete list of "Fans" who follow everything the
    member writes.
--  Lineup Cards on Favorite Teams and Site Writers. By filling out a
    Lineup, site members create a custom feed of news on their favorite teams,
    players and writers. Every time there is a new article on these topics,
    it's instantly pushed to the member's Lineup.
--  Play-by-Play Activity Logs. A running log of activity lets members see
    comments posted to their articles, replies to their comments, new edits to
    their articles, new Fans, etc.
    

Funding Will Help Further Enhance Site

The company received Series A funding from Hillsven Capital and other investors including Transcoast Capital, several long-time Silicon Valley executives, and College Humor and Vimeo founder Jakob Lodwick. The funding infusion will be used to continue to evolve the site with new features and capabilities, including video and podcasting later this year.

"The Bleacher Report team has developed a platform that leverages the strengths of both user-generated content and traditional journalism to legitimize the fan expert and create a new kind of sports media," said Boris Putanec of Hillsven. "They are clearly striking a chord, demonstrated by the rapid increase in site traffic since the beta launch last September."

Boris Putanec has also joined Bleacher Report's Board of Directors.

About Bleacher Report

Bleacher Report (www.bleacherreport.com) is where knowledgeable and passionate sports fans meet to share insights and opinions and to get broad, in-depth coverage of their favorite teams. Built on an open, community publishing platform and featuring a unique peer-editing system that produces the most outstanding, original fan-generated analysis anywhere on the Web, Bleacher Report gives fans a voice on what's important to them in the world of college and professional sports and a say on who is best qualified to deliver their sports news. At Bleacher Report, you make the call. Join the Bleacher Report sports community today at www.bleacherreport.com.