Derek Jeter may have already played his last game as a professional baseball player, but that doesn't mean he's going into retirement quietly. In fact, it looks like Jeter is going to be just as busy in his post-MLB career.
Jeter has officially entered the publishing business with the launch of a new media platform on Oct. 1 called The Players' Tribune. It's designed to make it easier for athletes to connect with their fans with no middleman, i.e. reporters, to potentially distort "any statement, any opinion or detail," Jeter wrote in his announcement of the site.
"I do think fans deserve more than 'no comments' or 'I don't knows," Jeter wrote. "I'm not a robot. Neither are the other athletes who at times might seem unapproachable. We all have emotions. We just need to be sure our thoughts will come across the way we intend."
The Players' Tribune will serve as an online community where athletes act as the site's editors and contributors who share their first-person stories and behind-the-scenes content with fans. The content will include everything from "video podcasts to player polls and written pieces," according to the website.
"We want to have a way to connect directly with our fans, with no filter," Jeter wrote on the site.
The next editor will be revealed on Oct. 2, according to the website. Gary Hoenig, the editorial director of ESPN Publishing and one of the founding editors of ESPN the magazine, will guide the site's editorial content, according to The New York Times.
The Players' Tribune is just Jeter's latest publishing venture. Last year, he announced his new publishing imprint in partnership with Simon & Schuster, Jeter Publishing.
While there's no content on the site yet, the very concept is certainly intriguing. While there have been a few efforts to put famous individuals in more direct contact with fans through social media, such as Facebook's Mentions app and the website WhoSay, none of them have really targeted athletes specifically. However, it's debatable whether or not anyone is really using those services as opposed to just using their regular Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.
The launch of The Players' Tribune couldn't be any better. Not only is Jeter the talk of the town these days, having played his last MLB game just three days ago, but the sports world has come under fire in recent months for the behavior of some of its athletes. Ray Rice's domestic abuse incident and Adrian Peterson's indictment for child abuse have specifically given the NFL a bad name recently, but athletes from any sport are no strangers to controversy. The Players' Tribune could be a valuable resource in helping them set the record straight and give them better publicity. But of course, there's always the possibility that the unfiltered communication The Players' Tribune promises could make things much, much worse.
I also wonder how much of the content will actually come from the athletes themselves, rather than someone like a publicist. Some celebrities have been known to not actually post to their social media accounts, and with athletes' similarly busy schedules, I wouldn't be surprised if they had someone else create their content.
Sports leagues also have their own policies regarding what athletes can say in public and on social media. Universities are especially stringent when it comes to what student athletes can post on social media, if at all. It's possible that these organizations may have to have prior approval of what an athlete posts on The Players' Tribune, which if that turns out to be the case, could also take away some of the appeal of this unfiltered access.
Still, sports fans are incredibly passionate and loyal, so giving them another outlet to express that and be even more immersed in the games they love will surely be appealing to many. And with the backing of Jeter, Hoenig and who knows what other sports figures, The Players' Tribune is sure to get a lot of attention, at least at the beginning.
