Contributions from Chloe Nordquist
For parents with kids in youth sports, the ability to communicate with coaches and league organizers and track game times are critical components to organizing a family’s schedule.
Don Malin, dad and software engineer, became frustrated with the inefficient software platform the parks and recreation youth sport leagues used to register, schedule and communicate with the parents, and thought, “There has to be a better way,” he said.
He founded League Athletics in 2005, a sports league management system, that was recently acquired by Time Inc.
“It’s very exciting, we are happy to be a part of a bigger company and access to a lot more resources than we’ve had in the past. It creates lots of opportunities for us,” Malin said.
Time Inc. said they intend to integrate their platform into their upcoming online sports management program Sports Illustrated Play (SI Play), a suite of tools for player registration, scheduling, communication and scorekeeping.
League Athletics platform will be paired with another acquired tech company by Time Inc., Sports Sign Up, and together will service more than 8 million players, parents, coaches, administrator and more, including over 8,500 leagues and 300,000 teams, according to Time Inc.
The company’s vision for SI Play is to “work with our youth sports partners, build this experience, grow participation and celebrate the glory of all things youth sports.”
CEO Time Inc. Joe Ripp said, “These acquisitions establish Time Inc.’s position in a youth sports space that now consists of approximately 30 million American athletes aged 5 to 17.”
League Athletics will continue to remain in Tucson for the near future. They also plan to add many new features to the platform, Malin said.
As for building a company in Arizona, “We love Tucson. It’s a wonderful place for people to work. We’ve really enjoyed building our business in Tucson where the cost of living is low and more importantly, the quality of life is excellent,” Malin said.
Read more about Arizona tech company acquisitions at AZ Tech Beat
Graphics provided by Time Inc. & League Athletics
Lead graphic was made in house with provided logos
