25+ Sports Social Networking Sites
The rise of social networks over the past few years has provided people with new ways to connect and interact around their interests. Social networks have also begun to appear in the sports world, as both a way for teams/leagues to provide a place for fans to connect and for general sports fans and athletes to share content and information about a specific sport or sports in general.
Mashable just released their list of 350+ social networking sites in categories such as books, business networking, family, friends, etc.
However, they left out social networks for one of the biggest passion points–SPORTS.
Here’s a collection of sports-focused social networking sites. I hope it is useful for those of you who are interested in sports and social networking. I’m sure I probably missed some sites, so feel free to add more to the list in the comments. If you’re new to the site, consider subscribing to Take A Peck so you won’t miss any of the sports business-related articles, especially the Sports Business Carnivals.
Leagues
MyAFL - MyAFL is the official community of the Arena Football League. Allows fans to set up profiles and share videos, photos and blogs.
Fan Voice - Fan Voice is the NBA’s official social network. It allows fans to create profiles, connect with other NBA fans and discuss players, fantasy teams and more
NHL Connect - NHL Connect is the official fan community of the National Hockey League and includes groups, videos and photos.
RodeoUp - RodeoUp is the official video community for the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.
Teams
I Am A Trail Blazers Fan - The Portland Trail Blazers were the first NBA team to launch a social networking site. The site allows fans from all over to connect with each other and includes a non-profit/charity element that allows people to volunteer for projects to help improve the community.
MyColts.net - MyColts.net is a community that allows Indianapolis Colts fans to connect and show their Colts pride. Includes blogs, photos, surveys, groups and Colts Cred, a points system that gives fans incentive to use the site and create good content.
HuskerSpot.com - HuskerSpot.com is a community for Univ. of Nebraska sports fans. Users can create a profile, watch videos, view pictures, write in personal blogs, and discuss Husker sports.
General
FanNation - FanNation is a general sports social networking site tha has a news and stats focus. Its partners include Sports Illustrated and CNN.
Fanspot - Fanspot is a sports social network that features fan clubs, blogs, team stats and photos. The site’s design could be better.
iLovetoPlay.com - This site is a meeting place where sports participants and organizations can find each other, communicate. Users can organize sports activities, find a training partner, and find places to play.
FreetheFan.com - FreetheFan.com is a place for sports fans to create profiles and debate sports headlines, win prizes and share opinions and videos.
SportsMates - SportsMates is a global sports social networking site that includes 1000s of communities, blogs, fan directories and photos.
isporty - This sports social network is for general sports fans and is built on the premise that sports is a major force in connecting people.
Comenplay.com - Global sports social networking site Comenplay.com brings athletes together so they can improve their health and fitness, meet new friends and play more sports.
ZexSports.com - ZexSports.com is a community for extreme sport athlete and fans. It includes sports such as BMX biking, river rafting, rock climbing, wake boarding and kayaking.
Sk8site - Sk8site is a community for skateboarders to share videos and pictures. Includes skaters such as Jereme Rogers, Transworld’s 2005 Rookie of the Year.
Surfspot - Surfspot is a yet-to-be-finished social networking for surfers. Coming soon…
Motocross.com - Motocross.com is a portal site that includes community elements such as video and photo sharing.
High School Sports
TAKKLE - TAKKLE is a high school sports social networking site where students, athletes, coaches, and fans can share their passion for sport. Sports Illustrated is an investor and offers its Top 100 High School Football Player Rankings on the site.
TRU Preps - TRU Preps is a social networking site for high school athletes that was started by MaxPreps in the summer of 2007 and gives high school athletes a profile page for their sports achievements, stats, photos and video highlights.
Skiing
SkiSpace .com - Founded by skier Bode Miller, SkiSpace.com provides members with the ability to share user generated content such as mobile photo uploads, skiing action videos and ski lifestyle videos. Site is coming soon (expected winter 2007).
SkiNet - SkiNet allows skiing enthusiasts to create a profile, upload pictures/videos and find other skiers to connect with.
Other Sports
FootyHeads FanSpot - FootyHeads FanSpot is a community for Rugby fans to connect and share content online.
Joga - Nike’s soccer (football) social networking site where members can create profile pages, share photos and videos and access content from Nike-sponsored athletes.
UltimateFrisbee.com - This is a portal site for Ultimate Frisbee fanatics that includes videos, photos, groups and message boards.
SwimRoom - Launched in early 2007, SwimRoom is a online community for swimmers that includes swimming-related blogs, podcasts, photos and groups and support from athletes such as Katie Hoff and Michael Phelps.
Sports and Social Bookmarking
Ballhype - Sports community that pulls in content from thousands of sports blogs. Similar to Digg, users can submit their own stories or “hype up” other stories; if the story gets voted on enough, it will make it to the front page.
October 24th, 2007 at 10:46 pm
There is another sports and social bookmarking website called SportsAg (www.sportsag.com). One place for all of your sports news and blogs.
October 25th, 2007 at 7:46 am
Wow, nice list Jason! very thorough.
October 25th, 2007 at 11:28 pm
Thanks for the mention Jason. All the best.
October 26th, 2007 at 8:33 am
Great list Jason, thanks for the mention as well!
October 26th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Glad you all are finding the list helpful. Thanks for stopping by
October 26th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Actually I read a similar article and the http://www.sportme.org is the largest sports social network in the United Kingdom.
The interesting thing about sportme is that it is the only sports community that not only focuses on individual athletes but also sports clubs and teams.
cheers,
Julia
October 27th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Can I also add http://www.istadia.com - this network connects sport and exercise professionals, businesses and enthusiasts.
October 29th, 2007 at 7:54 am
You left out http://www.AccessAthletes.com !!!!
October 29th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
I also left out a huge one–Nike+. So I appreciate all the suggestions since I’m not perfect.
October 30th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Another one just created with members increasing dramatically daily! Can get paid for referring members as well!
http://www.fansmack.net
October 31st, 2007 at 8:35 pm
For those of you who produce football videos, you might want to add some football theme video backgrounds for adding text or scores to the video. Here is a site that offers football themed video backgrounds, http://www.studio1productions.com/Animations/sports-3.htm
November 1st, 2007 at 1:40 pm
I recently found another new sports networking site that includes news aggregation. It’s called fanzak.com.
November 6th, 2007 at 10:05 am
I almost wonder if something like CBS Sportsline and their amalgamation of fantasy sports portals is not a social network of some sort? What do you think?
November 6th, 2007 at 12:58 pm
There is also a new COLLEGE sports social networking site called FanU at http://www.fanu.com
November 8th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Marc - I think you answered your question. CBS Sportsline is a portal, and while it may have social elements, it’s not driven by users and thus isn’t a standard social networking/community site.
November 9th, 2007 at 6:17 am
This one should rock
http://www.infieldparking.com
For all Nascar fans. Alot of hard work going on behind the scenes right now to make this a killer site.
November 14th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Nice list thanks. However as a former Rugby player and hardcore fan I have to point out Footyhead is a site for Australian rules football — not Rugby.
November 15th, 2007 at 7:55 pm
Great list!
You missed http://www.oleole.com the largest social network for the most popular sport in the world - football (soccer).
Also the Nike Joga site hasn’t been active since the World Cup last year.
November 26th, 2007 at 10:16 am
We are releasing a beta version of our Sports News Network Application in a few weeks. Please sign up at http://www.fanboom.com.
Thanks,
FanBoom
November 28th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Jason:
How about a very quiet network that partners with large independent sites, keeping the conversation focused less on the national picture and more on the individual school.
We have 29 sites in the network and are currently reaching 2.2 million unique IP per month. We are fiercely independent and feel the best way to honor the communities is to not cram then into a large national cookie-cutter template.
I’d love to tell you more.
One of our 29 sites http://www.techsideline.com
December 10th, 2007 at 7:27 am
[…] on my last list of sports social networks, 25+ Sports Social Networking Websites, here’s an updated list of sports-related social networks that reflects your feedback as well […]
December 10th, 2007 at 4:52 pm
I would like to add a new site, unknownathletes.com. It is brand new and trying to get users. Offer incentives to sign up and will be holding monthly contest to build my user base. I have many new things in works for this site so come join it will be worth it. Also this is a great site. I just ran across it today. But it is very informative and well put together. I have seen takkles website and believe it is one of the best sites out right now.
January 22nd, 2008 at 4:56 pm
stickychicken launches January 23, 2008. http://www.stickychicken.com
January 28th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Thanks for the listing of sports social networking.
January 29th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
http://www.sportsmatchmaker.com
FREE Lifetime Membership for a limited time…
February 12th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
there is this real cool sports network, http://www.mvpspot.com
and as a promo they are giving out autographed memorabilia.
February 25th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
What about http://www.MayContainNuts.com this is supposed to be the only Extreme sports social networking Site in the world.
February 25th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Also recommend http://www.RootZoo.com. It is a social network like Myspace for Sports Fans. Users write articles, create polls & threads, etc. They received points for their participation which can be used for prizes. Addicting.
March 4th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
How about a social network for golfers? http://www.stracka.com
April 24th, 2008 at 2:15 pm
I like the one that the founder of ESPN, Bill Rasmussen started. http://www.collegefanz.com
May 6th, 2008 at 1:19 am
Hi Jason. Great list, and thanks for the opportunity for webmasters to post their sports social networks here. Tennisopolis is the biggest tennis social network with over 5600 members today and hundreds of local tennis meet-up groups. http://www.tennisopolis.com thanks, Mark