Doubledown Media LLC has partnered with ballplayer-turned-businessman Lenny Dykstra to launch The Players Club, a magazine for professional athletes.
The monthly will present financial advice and luxury lifestyles to its all-athlete readership. The idea is to show young, high-paid players how to manage and enjoy their money. Doubledown’s other titles, such as Trader Monthly, also focus on money management and high-earning lifestyles.
“The demographics for this group are staggering,” declared Randall Lane, president of Doubledown Media. “We have 20- and 30-year-old millionaires by the thousands, and they’re interested in what to spend their money on. A lot of our editorial will also focus on how they can keep their money and have it grow so they don’t retire broke.”
Mercedes-Benz and AIG have already signed on to advertise in the ad-supported Players Club. A full-page ad commands $7000. The magazine will also draw revenue through event hosting and product tie-ins.
Athletes, agents, team management, team offices and financial advisors affiliated with a variety of pro sports leagues are on the mailing list for the magazine.
“Because we’re working with athletes and ex-athletes, we’re an insider’s publication,” Lane explained. “We have a lot of opportunities to really target them. The list is incredibly precise and will reach people who are otherwise impossible to reach.”
The glossy hits mailboxes in April 2008 — opening month for Major League Baseball. The first issues will be distributed for free via a mailing list, but Lane expects readers to opt in for future issues.
“If you give them a great product that’s designed exactly for them, they tend to opt in at extremely high rates,” he said.
Doubledown, located in New York, publishes Trader Monthly, Dealmaker, Private Air, Trader Monthly Europe, Corporate Leader and The Cigar Report.
