The business section of Wednesday’s New York Times included a lengthy item about a joint venture between Creative Artists, hedge fund Pequot and Major League Baseball to launch WePlay.com, a social networking site tailored for young athletes and the people who love to exploit them. Amongst the site’s investors….Yankee SS Derek Jeter.
Mr. Jeter, who in addition to receiving equity in WePlay in exchange for his involvement also invested some of his own money (he will not say how much), began filming clips for the site in mid-December. Having equity, Mr. Jeter said in a telephone interview, is œvery important, because you can really feel good about something if you help build it.
The focus of the business also fits with Mr. Jeter™s own philanthropy. œWhat it boils down to is, it™s a really outstanding idea, he said. œI have my own foundation, and we are trying to get kids to be active and play sports. Kids today spend too much time playing video games, and there™s a huge obesity problem in this country.
Perhaps kids wouldn’t spend nearly as much time playing video games if the likes of Jeter weren’t on television convincing them it might be a fun thing to do?
While Jeter is certainly entitled to his opinion, it’s shameful that he’d seek to torpedo Jose Reyes’ moment in the sun.