MLBPA & Stack Media Partner to Help Student Athletes Reach Potential

NEW YORK, NY – May 2016 – The Major League Baseball Players Association and STACK, the nation’s leading multi-platform sports performance content and media company for student athletes, announced the launch of the Players Choice Student Athlete Digital Network. This digital network will empower student athletes from junior high through college, as well as their parents and coaches, through channels individually hosted by active Major Leaguers, beginning with All-Stars, Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Chris Archer of the Tampa Bay Rays.

This unique and original video content posted throughout the Players Choice Student Athlete Digital Network will be co-produced by the players. This up-close and personal content aims to provide aspiring young athletes with road maps to success. Subject matters will include stories from each player that will help athletes achieve their goals through mental and physical training, nutrition, baseball-specific drills and making healthy decisions on and off the field.

Each individual player channel also will be committed to supporting and assisting parents as they navigate the student-athlete journey. While their children are motivated with examples of how some of today’s top major leaguers overcame adversity and fine-tuned their skills, parents will learn invaluable lessons from the personal experiences of the participating players.

“I’m excited to partner with STACK and hope we can help student athletes reach their goals, whether it’s making the team at any level or ultimately performing for college coaches and scouts to take notice,” said three-time MLB All-Star, two-time Gold Glove and Silver Slugger recipient, Paul Goldschmidt (STACK.com/PaulGoldschmidt). “As athletes and their families visit my channel year round, I look forward to sharing an inside look at my life on and off the field.”

“My partnership with STACK affords me the opportunity and platform to inspire millions of student athletes and their families,” said Chris Archer (STACK.com/ChrisArcher). “I look forward to bringing the STACK camera crews behind the scenes year round, showcasing that the mental side of athletics is just as important as the physical side, and to finding the necessary balance between being a dedicated athlete and a well-rounded teenager off the field.”

The STACK partnership with the MLBPA plans to expand by adding additional channels, including Spanish and Asian language player specific channels. This will provide aspiring athletes from an array of cultural backgrounds with opportunities to learn from some of their favorite major leaguers.

“Our partnership with STACK will give young fans incredible access to the players’ views on training, mental preparation, off the field personal interests and more,” said Evan Kaplan, Major League Baseball Players Association Director of Licensing and Business Development.

“We are honored and excited to partner with the MLBPA and its players to tell their stories and inspire young athletes,” said STACK Co-Founder & CEO, Nick Palazzo. “STACK is all about empowering athletes with authentic inspiration and educational content. There is no better partner than the MLBPA and its great players to help us impact an entire generation of baseball players. We have been blown away by the passion of Paul and Chris. We look forward to working with more players in partnership with the MLBPA.”

About STACK
Founded in 2005, STACK is the nation’s leading multi-platform content and media company, providing differentiated sports content focused on helping student athletes, parents and coaches optimize performance and helping them get to the next level. Propelled by the mission of bridging the information gap between professional and amateur athletes, STACK provides authentic training, nutrition, motivation, skills and gear advice from the best pro athletes and performance experts. STACK engages a massive audience of active millennials through its various platforms including: STACK.com, the digital home of STACK content and web-based tools which reaches more than 10 million monthly unique visitors; STACK Magazine, targeted to high school athletes which has a circulation rate of 875,000 and readership of more than 5 million including distribution in 13,500 high schools across the country that represents 75% of all high schools with varsity sports programs; STACK Velocity Sports Performance, the largest athletic performance training organization in North America with 40 training facilities across the United States; and digital applications including STACK Personal Coach and STACK Conditioning presented by Asics. https://www.stack.com/

ABOUT MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYERS ASSOCIATION (MLBPA):

The Major League Baseball Players Association (www.mlbplayers.com) is the collective bargaining representative for all professional baseball players of the thirty Major League baseball teams and serves as the exclusive group licensing agent for commercial and licensing activities involving active Major League baseball players. On behalf of its members, it operates the Players Choice licensing program and Players Choice Awards, which benefit the needy through the Major League Baseball Players Trust, a charitable foundation established and run entirely by Major League baseball players. Follow: @MLB_Players @MLBPAClubhouse @MLBPlayersTrust