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Packers' Aaron Rodgers Co-Founds Online Sports Database Website
April 20, 2021
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and actor/producer Ryan Rottman announced the launch of the Online Sports Database, a website that seeks to serve as an IMDB-like service to provide information about athletes.
"For the past 16 years as an actor and producer, I've utilized IMDb not only as a business card for myself but as a research tool to find other actors, producers and contact info to agents, managers and publicists," Rottman told Andrew Bucholtz of Awful Announcing. "It occurred to me there was nothing like IMDB for the sports world. There isn't one contained place you can find out everything there is to know about athletes and teams. There isn't a place that highlights athletes away from their place of work. I had to navigate through 15 different sites to get in-depth info on my favorite players."
The OSDB website, which launched Tuesday, provides information like contract details, charitable endeavors, endorsements and stats. A subscription tier that includes agent and management details will be launched at a later date.
Athletes from the NFL, NBA and Major League Baseball are available at launch, with the NHL, professional soccer leagues, UFC, WNBA, PGA, LPGA, cricket and esports coming later as the website grows. The site plans on running editorial content as well. According to Rottman, Rodgers believes athletes' endeavors away from their field of play often do not receive enough attention.
"The plan is to collaborate with the athletes and showcase them in a different light," Rottman said. "Collaboration is key. We want to be an outlet for them to be themselves and show who they are without a helmet or a uniform on. If an athlete has a new charitable initiative their launching or a new partnership with a brand or even if they want to showcase their talents in the kitchen, we want to be that outlet for them."
The OSDB raised $2.5 million in funding ahead of the launch.