PlayersTV Expands Athlete Creator Economy

J.D.: Michelle Ghee joins us now here on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange. She is the president of PlayersTV. Here to talk all about the athlete creator economy, top priorities for 2026 and much more. Welcome back to the New York Stock Exchange. I should say it's great to have you here today.

Michelle: Thank you J.D. It's good to be here.

J.D.: So let's start right there. What actually is the athlete creator economy and how do you view it as a fundamentally different model than maybe more traditional endorsement?

Michelle: Yeah. So when you think about sports, you think about live sports, you're watching a game, you're watching highlights. But what PlayersTV is built to do is to allow athletes to have their story, tell their story around the things they're passionate about. AndJ.D., I can't begin to tell you how incredibly successful that has been because people are so interested in what they do outside of their day to day job, right? And so we're building something pretty phenomenal.

J.D.: I mean, it's amazing to look at media distribution for athletes, not just former athletes, but current athletes who now have their own podcast and they have their own shows. And that didn't really seem to be much of a part of the equation when you watched the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s. The game of distribution has changed a lot.

Michelle: I want all of those athletes on PlayersTV. This is what's going on, right? Right now we are transacting in an economy of likes and impressions. How many likes did I get? How many impressions did I get? But really the game is distribution. How many people can I reach? And that changes the narrative entirely. So what PlayersTV does it, has like crazy reach because we have distribution across DirectTV, across Philo, across Fire. Right. So these big distribution platforms, including YouTube, which we know is now the number one streamer. what we're allowing our athletes to do that want to tell their story is to aggregate them in one place to actually reach 200 million people across the United States, and we're going to push internationally.

That allows them to make more money to bring brands along the process because there's greater authenticity and engagement So distribution is the game, but a lot of people don't know it. So we are so excited to teach them that, to share that with them and to bring them into our family so that everybody can benefit on the back end.

J.D.: Michelle, you are around these athletes every single day. Talk about authenticity. What are those off the field or off the court stories that you find they really want to tell that we don't get to see when we tune in to the games on primetime?

Michelle: Well, I'm not around the athletes all the time. I'm around the business. But but I understand what you're saying. And what I would say is that when we had this notion and DeAndre Jordan wanted to talk about cooking clean, we're like the engagement around that has been tremendous because he changed the way he's eating. He'sliving.

And it made him a much better athlete. Right. We have Aerial Powers who wants to talk about dating and the number of chicken wings you eat. The engagement 500,000 views in 24 hours is crazy, right? So we know that there is this story and that I have to end with Dr. Myron Rolle. Like, how do you play football? Then you go back and get your medical degree, and now you're a neurosurgeon and you're talking about healthy living. Like what an amazing, not only inspirational story to say that I don't have to end here, but I can do more things, and I was born to do more things. But what an amazing opportunity for brands to connect with those folks that are already following them. Because remember the brilliance of this narrative, the brilliance of PlayersTV, is that we're taking and partnering with athletes that already have millions of followers. So it's already inbred and we're expanding that to a new audience. It's like, it's brilliant. I love my day job, I love it.

J.D. It's very clear from the enthusiasm of what you talk about, and it's such an exciting underlying product. That's the athlete side. How about the feedback from the audience themselves? What sorts of stories do they want to hear? They have watched these athletes play at the biggest stage of the world for the sports they love. For so many years, and maybe they want to know a lot more about the people, not the athletes.

Michelle: Yeah they do. You know, when you think about, and I've been around this business for 25 plus years, and I have seen in real time by, you know, running Ebony and running Essence, and running these editorial platforms that when we post stories about their love life and how they grew their finances and about their children and about how they connect with their like, the engagement is tenfold. When they talk about they scored 50 points, you get one like. When you talk about I am now donating back to my community and I created a community center, my mom is the executive director- a million likes. So we are paying attention to and we are living in a time when analytics and data can drive so many things, and that helps us build the stories and help us guide and direct our athletes so that they can connect where their audience wants to meet them. So we're in an exciting time.

J.D.: Can you talk to me a bit more about where you see the biggest untapped opportunities, sorts of things that maybe you and your team envision that you have not, or no one maybe, has quite yet been able to fully bring to fruition.

Michelle: I hate to say it because I don't want someone to beat me to it, but I'll just say this. I think there is a huge opportunity, and we've seen it done in a couple of different genres, to pool all of the athletes in one place and have one big place where you can come and get the stories that you want to see, and that has not happened. And I want to be the person that does that. And I believe that the team that we're building at PlayersTV has the pedigree, the experience and the know how in order to get that done. So that's the first thing. The other thing is that women in sports - like it is a huge opportunity, yet I haven't seen it aggregated, the stories told, brought to life in the way that it should. And I want to also be part of that trajectory. I'm a woman. I played sports. Way back in the day, I used to have a jump shot and now my son has a great jump shot. He's in high school, but I want to see that come to fruition. And the final thing is that if we talk about technology layering that over, we also have athletes that are building products and services. And can we layer over technology for people to engage by products and services? So how do we layer technology over the stories we're telling so they can transact and now double down like a Kyrie Irving and his amazing partnership with ANTA, and buy the tennis shoes because he has a show on our network in real time. So those are my three priorities. It's aligned with how the marketplace is moving, where capitalism is going as it relates to sports, and I'm really excited to be part of that and to drive those narratives.

J.D.: Michelle, finally, I have no doubt you and the team, you're cooking on a lot of exciting things for 2026, a lot of which you probably can't quite tell us. But if you can give us some sense under the hood about what the rest of this year looks like for you and the team.

Michelle: Yeah. So I think what the rest of this year looks like to have intimate conversations with our players and allow people to come into that, you know, that we're we are owned by our fans and our athletes to continue that process and to bring our fans and allow them to be part of this ownership thing, and how do we do that expertly. And then to go into different sports. Listen, we have basketball on tap. We have some football players. Soccer is interesting. Flag football like come on with the women. So we want to expand our athlete base. So when I think about the business in totality. Aggregation pull those together. There's a huge opportunity in YouTube. When I think about going into other things. Women in sports. Finally, when I think about the things that we can do is allow our brands to connect with our athletes in a really special way and really allow the marketplace to build their businesses and their brands because they're attaching to this authentic conversation. So, like, those are my priorities. I think they're realistic, and I think we can get a lot of stuff done.

J.D.: Just an amazing interview, and I'm so grateful for your time and every sports fan, this is the type of stuff we love. We want to hear these off the court and off the field stories. The great Michelle Ghee, President of PlayersTV. Congratulations on all the successes you've already had and best of luck on the road ahead. Great. Thank you so much.

Michelle: Thank you.