"BeRecruited links to USA Today brand, others"

From SportsBusiness Journal

Review by Sean Cunningham in SRM 334

The article that we decided to do for our presentation was an article in the Sports Business Journal that talked about the recruiting company berecruited. Its recent business deals have made it one of the top recruiting companies in the U.S. This company uses their website to connect non-elite high school athletes with collegiate athletic programs. Currently there are 1.5 million student athletes registered. Berecruited enlarged and enhanced their company by recently agreeing to distribution and marketing deals with USA Today High School Sports, Kaplan Test Prep and the National Collegiate Scouting Association. Also they acquired fanvibe 14 months ago, which is a social sports streaming website. What berecruited wants to accomplish with these deals are benefits that will help their athletes gain recognition in the ultra competitive and crazy recruiting world. Some of the benefits include offering prospecting athletes free recruiting analysis from a NCSA scout, discounts on Kaplan test preparation products, as well as personalized highlight films. The article states that you can become a premium member for only $299. These types of sites along with the over the top media coverage have made recruiting so competitive that coaches and schools have resulted to breaking NCAA rules to land recruits. The media coverage now on college football recruiting has allowed fans to follow their team’s recruiting year round which puts enormous amounts of pressure on coaches to land big time recruits. These big-named recruits get celebrity like media coverage during the entire recruiting process up until National Signing Day. In conclusion, this article shows how much recruiting has changed in college athletics, especially in football to where it has now become a cut-throat business. 

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Review by Connor Butler in SRM 334

Recently, I read an article entitled: BeRecruited Links to USA Today Brand, Others. The article was about a website entitled BeRecruited, a social media website high school athletes use to promote themselves to college programs.

In class, social media has been a talking point many times. This article is representative of the role social media has begun to play in sports. The website allows high school athletes to create a profile or connect to the website through facebook, and use that profile to make connections with 25,000 coaches in 31 different sports. The website, through social media, provides more opportunities to players that may not be heavily recruited coming out of high school to receive some form of recruitment.

Recently, BeRecruited signed distribution and marketing deals with USA Today High School Sports, Kaplan Test Prep, and the National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA), in attempts to reach out to more athletes and boost memberships. Specifically, premium members will receive free Kaplan Test Prep products, as well as free personalized highlight films, and every new member receives a free recruiting analysis by a NCSA scout. BeRecruited currently has 1.5 million users, and expects that number to grow with the new deals that have been agreed on.

My partner and I in addition to the article, decided to look deeper into recruiting and the media other than what is mentioned in the article. While websites like BeRecruited provide opportunities to lower level high school athletes, some athletes do not need the help. Today, media coverage of high school recruiting is through the roof. Media outlets such as ESPN, USA Today, and local television networks have regular coverage of the top ranked athletes and the schools they are choosing from throughout the season. Recently, there was a media frenzy over Jadaveon Clowney, and his indecision on where he wanted to play. Also, on signing day, camera crews are sent to the high schools of the top recruits in the nation, just for them to reveal where they are going to be playing. Do high school players need that much attention?

The article, as well as our extra research, shed a lot of light on the role of the media in recruiting today. Whether it is a social media outlet providing opportunities to lesser known athletes or the media putting players on a pedestal, there is a prominent, and growing, media presence in high school recruiting.