PlayersTV athlete-investors DeAndre Jordan, Carmelo Anthony, and Kyrie Irving.
PlayersTV
PlayersTV, a first of its kind media network that is fan and athlete owned set waves recently for their second round of fan crowd funding to help raise equity for the company. Their current fundraising launched in mid July.
Uniquely, PlayersTV takes traditional business models and flips them on their head. Instead, the company has allowed fans to invest and become shareholders in the space alongside their portfolio of athletes such as: Chris Paul, Travis Kelce, Dwyane Wade, Chiney Ogwumike, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Natasha Cloud, A.J. Andrews, Carmelo Anthony, and more.
This is not the first time the company has used this strategy. In 2023, the company raised $3.2 million from over 2,200 fans. Thus, PlayersTV is changing the landscape by focusing primarily on athlete driven content and direct fan engagement that allows viewers to see the authentic, quirky, and layers to the athletes they love to watch compete. According to co-founder Deron Guidrey, “PlayersTV and its stable of athlete investors are continuously disrupting the business of media, with their latest Fan Raise once again turning viewers into owners.”
PlayersTV in More than 300 Million Homes
It seems the PlayersTV blueprint is working thus far as the channel is distributed 24/7 and to more than 300 million households through DirecTV, Fubo, YouTube TV, Amazon Fire TV, and Philo.
Furthermore, research supports this approach as consumers are finding athletes to be more genuine than other celebrities as well as according to Neilsen Sports, 78% of sports fans are more inclined to purchase a product endorsed by their favorite athlete. Additionally, Ministry of Sport found that athletes boost a higher average engagement rate than their influencer counterparts in social media spaces.
PlayersTV cofounders Collin Castellaw and Deron Guidrey speak with board member and Siri cofounder Adam Cheyer at the 2025 PlayersTV Ownersfest in San Francisco.
PlayersTV
Guidrey recognizes this cultural shift into a new media landscape allows fans to become decision-makers and owners alongside their favorite athletes in this way, “This marks an exciting milestone as we open the doors for fans to become proud owners in PlayersTV, our very own athlete-owned media company. This journey has always been about bringing athletes and fans closer together, and now, by becoming owners, our fans are not just spectators, but integral players in shaping the future and redefining athlete media.”
Guidrey continued, ““We’ve made fans and athletes the core of our business since day one. You need both to succeed in today’s markets, so we put them at the heart of everything we do, and that’s allowed us to accelerate to a unique position as the undisputed leader in athlete lifestyle media.”
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/allisonsmith/2025/08/27/playerstv-lets-fans-go-from-viewers-to-owners-alongside-athletes/
