Sports sponsorship company LeagueSide has been acquired by TeamSnap

Sportstech company LeagueSide, which planted its Philly roots when cofounders Evan Brandoff and Zubin Teherani met at training camp for Venture for America, is expanding its reach via an acquisition by sports software company TeamSnap.

The 2015-founded, Center City-headquartered company matches youth sports leagues across the country with brands that will sponsor the teams. In turn, the sponsors gain exposure and potential clients, and can track relevant metrics provided by LeagueSide. Since its launch, LeagueSide has grown to feature more than 20,000 local sports orgs, and works with sponsors like DIRECTV, Chipotle, Uber and Verizon.

Remote-first TeamSnap, founded in 2009, is an online sports community and sports management platform that’s used by millions of youth sports coaches, admins, players and parents, the company said. Its acquisition of LeagueSide will “launch a unique offering for brands to connect with the youth sports industry,” per a statement. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

“We have listened to brands and partners looking for ways to connect in-person with youth sports communities, as well as youth sports organizations interested in sponsorship opportunities — and this is our answer,” said Peter Frintzilas, CEO of TeamSnap, in a statement. “Like LeagueSide, TeamSnap at its core is a company focused on improving the lives of youth athletes and their families, while making sports accessible to all. We are excited to welcome these forward-thinking innovators to our team.”

The combined forces of both companies bring its sports organization count to about 40,000, and provides sponsorship access to 11 million families, the companies said.

LeagueSide’s CEO Brandoff said in a statement that the acquisition was a “proud milestone” for the company. In a blog post, he explained that LeagueSide brand partners and sports organizations can now use TeamSnap’s digital media platform. Sponsors will be able to expand their reach with a bigger list of sports organizations and orgs will likely see a reduced cost with the combined sponsorship opportunities.

“[Teherani] and I co-founded LeagueSide over seven years ago with a vision to give everyone the opportunity to play,” he wrote. “We had a seemingly impossible task: make it easy for brands to sponsor the fragmented universe of youth sports organizations at scale.

Brandoff added that leaders were excited for the 40-person LeagueSide team to enter a new chapter of growth as a part of TeamSnap. The youth sponsorships idea they had years ago had turned into a “scalable and effective” marketing channel that’s sold more than $20 million in sponsorships and has worked with more than 4 million families.

“We could not be more excited to join forces with your incredible team,” Brandoff said in a LinkedIn post. “I am so damn proud of the LeagueSide team and what we have been able to accomplish.”

In an email to Technical.ly, Brandoff said that LeagueSide had followed TeamSnap since its inception, and had explored different partnership opportunities with the company over the years. The Philly company had reconnected with the new executive team at TeamSnap about a year ago, and believed their strong team and mission “perfectly” aligned with their goals. Traditionally youth sports have been fragmented, and brands have had a hard time connecting with that community, he said.

“Together with TeamSnap, we are changing that,” the CEO  said. “The youth sponsorship platform we’ve built will perfectly merge with TeamSnap’s existing ecosystem to create a first-of-its-kind solution for brands looking to connect with youth sports communities both online and in local communities.”

No major changes are expected for the LeagueSide team as it comes under the TeamSnap umbrella, though they are hiring.