SIDEARM Sports, Bleachr Form Extensive College-Sports Partnership
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SIDEARM Sports, a Learfield company providing websites to over 940 collegiate athletic programs, announced that it is joining forces with Bleachr, a Minneapolis-based digital app developer with patented in-stadium technology.
For Bleachr, the partnership signals the company’s first foray into college sports. For SIDEARM, it marks an expanded opportunity to solidify its dominant digital position in the college space as Bleachr’s best-in-class technology integrates easily into SIDEARM’s already robust native mobile app platform.
“We strive to always have a pulse on what would benefit our partners and their fan base, and we knew that enhancing the fan engagement component to our respective apps would be ideal,” said SIDEARM Sports’ President and CEO Jeff Rubin. “This has been an important focus for us over the past year, and we vetted potential technology partners before turning to who we consider to be the most impressive. There are many points of difference that made Bleachr attractive to us like making sure everything could be integrated and housed on the same app, the school app.”
Bleachr’s patented geo-fenced technology amplifies the live gameday experience and helps teams engage the fan community, deliver fan convenience, and fuel fan loyalty. Its unique features include connecting fans in-venue through friends’ notification, messaging, and a chat stream similar to Facebook. The technology also allows fans to order from their seats, win fan challenges, earn and redeem rewards, and connect directly with the team.
Bleachr’s Rich Kinzler, Managing Director of Business Development says, “Bleachr couldn’t find a more perfect partner to enter collegiate athletics. Together with SIDEARM, we will reach the mobile-first generation and provide fans with features that enrich the gameday experience through their mobile devices, creating an experience they can’t get from TV. Teams have a new direct connection to the fans that provides the opportunity for big, real-time data and fan analytics.”
