Pro Athletes Only…And Agents Are Allowed Too

I just got sent a press release that is a little over a week old, but very relevant to our field of interest. The title, Pro Athlete Media, LLC Announces the Addition of Cathy Rankin as New Host of PAO TV, did not really tell me much, but the first paragraph caught my attention. This recently launched website satisfies the daily information needs of professional and retired athletes, their spouses, sports agents, sports marketing professionals, and others in their "circle". This website was developed by former sports agent Scott Helfand. Before launching ProAthletesOnly.com he was the Founder, Publisher and Editor-In-Chief of Moves Magazine. I found this paragraph interesting for two reasons. 1. The latest edition of Moves Magazine is currently serving as my bathroom reading material. 2. I was shocked that I had never heard of ProAthletesOnly.com, especially when its description includes being a site geared towards informing sports agents. Reading on through the press release, I noticed a couple more eye-catching paragraphs. From the latest professional sports contracts, marketing deals and business listings to current sports news, events and interviews, ProAthletesOnly.com is the preferred information address on the internet for professional athletes. The ownership group of this unique website includes pro athletes Edgerrin James, Santana Moss, Junior Spivey, Darcy Hordichuk, Kenny Kelly, Sam Marsonek, NFL Players Association President Troy Vincent and former professional tennis player Victoria Hunt. Immediately, I headed over to the website and was met with a very visually pleasing layout. Here are my thoughts on the actual site: * Helfand made a great choice by choosing Cathy Rankin to host PAO TV. The videos are a nice addition to the overall site. * The Locker Room section is excellent because you can break news down by type. The problems are that there is a long load time and there is no way to subscribe via RSS to get updated about new stories. * Agents should love the complementary player salaries database. * The Business Listings/PAO market/Upcoming Events sections are currently pretty bare. These section needs to be beefed up. * The Sports News section also has a long load time and only generates Yahoo! News stories. I like the synopses of stories, though. * The Special Reports section is very informative. Check out the article on The Agent Selection Process. * Last, PAO has a nice listing of professional athletes' websites. I could personally see myself use the website to look at player salaries (if they are continuously updated) in the future. I would also like to subscribe to the site's Locker Room. Hopefully they have an RSS feed in the works.