ScoreSide Announces First Pro Athlete Ambassador
ScoreSide’s first Athlete Ambassador, MLS’s CJ Sapong of Nashville SC.
Minneapolis-based ScoreSide announced Thursday its partnership with Nashville SC forward CJ Sapong to become the startup’s first professional Athlete Ambassador.
A 10-year MLS veteran and 2011 Rookie of the Year, Sapong will represent the face of ScoreSide within the broader athletic community and MLS soccer in particular -- all while leveraging the innovative power of ScoreSide’s mobile platform to drive donations to charitable organizations that fit both his and ScoreSide’s collective vision and mission.
ScoreSide is a new, real-time mobile platform that helps grow and unite online communities of sports fans with a shared passion for giving. It has hundreds of active campaigns across the MLS, NHL, NBA and MLB, and recently completed campaigns for every team participating in the 2021 NCAA men’s college basketball tournament.
“We’re thrilled CJ decided to join and help us to extend ScoreSide’s footprint and vision across not only Major League Soccer, but to other markets as well,” said Ben Bakken, a ScoreSide Founder. “His MLS accomplishments, character and off-the-field passion for bettering the communities around him . . . he’s just a perfect fit for what we anticipate will be exponential growth in our core product’s presence and impact.”
Sapong was drafted in the first round of the 2011 MLS SuperDraft to Sporting Kansas City. Ten seasons, 276 MLS appearances, 71 goals and 25 assists later, he’s a league staple.
Off the field, Sapong is the founder of Sacred Seeds, a non-profit organization that creates programming and resources to expose underprivileged communities to the power of self-sustaining agriculture and improved nutrition.
CJ also currently serves as an executive board member for the Black Players for Change (BPC), a coalition of professional athletes of color galvanized to bring attention and impact to inequalities in minority communities and help lower barriers to entry in the game of soccer.
Sapong envisions ScoreSide as a vehicle to help drive his mission to not only assist the next generation of professional athletes, but more importantly the next generation of conscious humans.
“After talking with ScoreSide, it was apparent their leadership’s vision and heart for improving the lives of others through sports-based giving aligned broadly with mine.” said Sapong. “It’s a unique opportunity to help build a brand, galvanize the awesome fan base here in Nashville and others around the country, and use new, exciting technology to quickly drive money where it’s needed most.”
The foundation of ScoreSide’s platform is built upon processing real-time game data to drive real-world change.
“We’re leveraging what users love about watching sports to drive donations to charities of all kinds and sizes,” said Clark Torgerson, a ScoreSide Founder and SpaceX alum. “As for market opportunity, we want ScoreSide to be the easiest and most engaging way for fans, athletes, and professional teams to connect their collective passion for community good.”
ScoreSide’s roadmap includes plans to extend the Athlete Ambassador role into and across the country’s vast sports landscape.
“CJ will contribute with that effort and help to define what this role will look like going forward, as we expand our growth,” said Torgerson. “He describes himself as a ‘serial entrepreneur.’ I think he’ll fit right in.”