Leading Brands Sign On with myteam.com; POWERaDE, Honda, Dunkin Donuts, and LEGO Team-Up With Leading Online Amateur Sports Community for Local Activation of National Programs.

Business/Technology Editors & Sports Writers 

WOBURN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 9, 2001

Myteam.com, the leading online community for amateur sports, announces it recently entered into marketing partnership agreements with POWERaDE, Honda, Dunkin Donuts, and LEGO. These brand leaders join a growing group of sponsors who are partnering with myteam.com to access myteam's national amateur sports communities and activate customized local marketing programs directly with this valuable demographic.

"POWERaDE and our network of Coca-Cola bottlers are proud to team up with myteam.com as an extension of our commitment to connect POWERaDE to Youth Sports on the field and in the community. Myteam's tools and technology create a powerful connection with leagues, teams and players at the local level which is critical to the success of any national program," said Toby Simpkins, Senior Promotions Manager for Kids Lifestage Marketing at Coca Cola.

Myteam's patent pending technology infrastructure allows its exclusive roster of national and state organizations, including Little League Baseball (LLB), Amateur Softball Association (ASA), Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and premier State Youth Soccer Associations, to easily and effectively manage critical administrative and communications tasks online. Coaches and administrators use myteam to efficiently communicate with their players, parents and volunteers using myteam's unique site features and technology. In addition, parents can keep track of all their children's sports activities from one location--their personal home page--where important announcements and information, such as practice cancellations and game summaries for all their children, automatically flow.

"Myteam has quickly become an institutionalized part of how local leagues and teams communicate with their players, parents, coaches and fans. Commitments from such prestigious brands clearly demonstrate their endorsement of our business model and their desire to fully utilize all of myteam's web-based technology to activate their national marketing programs at a local level," said myteam CEO, Elliot Katzman.

Families are now using myteam.com on a daily basis in connection with their children's participation in amateur sports. As a result of myteam's unique site architecture, myteam has the ability to activate customized and targeted direct marketing programs on its sponsor's behalf. Myteam also utilizes this infrastructure to monetize its growing user base by direct marketing essential products and services to amateur sports teams and leagues. In addition, myteam offers unique fundraising opportunities that allow teams and leagues to custom tailor a fundraising program that is right for them, including a league sponsorship component that offers cash back for purchases. A further innovation is myteam's powerful group buying program, which gives leagues and teams the opportunity to join together online to drive down prices on essential items like bats and balls.

To enable sponsors to reach this worldwide audience to the fullest capacity, myteam launched their innovative Information Officer Program in the Fall of 2000. This program already has over 3,800 actively involved Information Officers assigned by local Little Leagues alone. This program combines the full potential of the Internet with the activism of Internet-savvy local volunteers. These dedicated "Information Officers" serve as the backbone for local implementation of myteam's worldwide amateur sports network by working within their own communities to maintain their individual league and team web sites. The program has rapidly spread to myteam's other national amateur sports organizations, with more Information Officers joining each day.

As part of their commitment to developing robust partnerships, myteam is working with POWERaDE, Honda, Dunkin Donuts, and LEGO to tailor customized programs that extend national efforts to the local, grassroots level. Coca Cola, through its POWERaDE Youth Sports Program, is using myteam's online communication tools and technology as an activation vehicle to reach amateur sports teams in local communities across the United States. To best reach its audience, LEGO will promote its LEGO Soccer assortment on soccer team web sites as well as the personal home pages of players, parents and fans. In addition, on all soccer team pages, myteam will provide exposure and awareness of its partnership with Major League Soccer and Major League Soccer camps throughout the US, of which LEGO is the Presenting Sponsor. All of the partners will also be included in myteam electronic newsletters, direct mail pieces and other collateral.

"Having these highly respected brands join our growing list of sponsors underscores our company's unique ability to dialogue directly with a key audience and help partners achieve their sales objectives," said myteam CEO, Elliot Katzman. "With the help of myteam, POWERaDE, Honda, Dunkin Donuts, and LEGO will be able to activate their national programs at the local level to drive sales and market share."

Myteam.com, the leading online center for the entire amateur sports community, is a direct marketing company that utilizes new media to facilitate communications among all those involved in amateur sports - players, parents, coaches, league administrators and fans. By serving as an ASP to its partners, myteam is able to facilitate a direct communication between its members and corporations interested in reaching this audience. Everyone who joins myteam.com receives a free, secure, personal home page, which stays with them from season-to-season, sport-to-sport and year-to-year. Here, information is presented and updated automatically in one place for all teams and leagues with which a member is associated. Myteam's online store, the myteam Marketplace, is the one stop resource for everything from fundraising and equipment to awards and trophies. Myteam' s unique attributes include its site architecture, which features personalization/targeting capabilities, and its exclusive relationships with premier amateur sports organizations, encompassing more than 30 sports, 12 million players and 30 million community members. These include Little League Baseball, Amateur Softball Association, Amateur Athletic Union, Police Athletic League, Youth Basketball Organization of America, and Major League Baseball's Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities program. The site is also partner to several State Youth Soccer Associations in the United States, representing over half the USYS membership.