Momsguide.com takes the mystery out of sports

By SUE ELLEN WOODCOCK

Essex County Newspapers

MARBLEHEAD _ These days with kids being involved in just about every sport imaginable it's hard for mothers, and fathers and grandparents to know the ins and outs of every game.

MomsGuide.com, headquartered in Marblehead, was launched over a year ago specifically to help mothers and other sports fans learn about the games. Starting out with sales of $350,000 in 1998 for the "Mom's Guide to Sports" the small, but growing company has sales approaching $1 million.

Founded by John Rourke, MomsGuide.com grew out of a Pennsylvania mother's quest to learn about the sports she was shuttling her kids to. Vicki Poretta was a mom in a minivan and confused as to what was happening on the playing field. Searching through books about sports at the library and bookstore helped little.

"She couldn't find anything but large technical manuals," Rourke said. "She wanted a simple guide she'd be able to carry."

Poretta created easy to carry, laminated game-time guides to various sports. Each of the 11 guides contains terms, a diagram of the playing field, basic rules, a historical snippet and related lingo. So far the sports covered are soccer, football, baseball, men's and women's lacrosse, basketball, field hockey, ice hockey, golf, tennis and volleyball. The retail price of the guides is $2.95 to $3.95. They are also available at wholesale prices when purchased in bulk on gametimeguides.com.

While the term "soccer-mom" is used often in describing who MomsGuide serves, the information the company distributes is just as helpful to fathers and grandparents.

Rourke said the target consumer is people in their 20s to 60s who have kids in youth sports.

"We've targeted the youth sports phenomenon and moms are a huge part of that market," Rourke said. "We do sell more to mothers but we also sell to people of all different stripes."

Rourke purchased MomsGuide in the mid-90s and Poretta now serves on the company's board of directors. Now with Michelle Smith, the vice president of marketing and business development, MomsGuide is stepping up to the plate and growing like a well-oiled sports franchise.

Smith, who joined MomsGuide after years at Mast Industries, a subsidiary of The Limited, is working with Rourke to expand the Game Time Guides into the retail industry and into the youth sports leagues across the nation. On top of that MomsGuide is expanding the company's Web site and online ordering.

No stranger to playing a role in a company's growth, Smith, was responsible for growth in different apparel businesses. Her work increased revenues from $2 million to $43 million. Where? At Mast? Smith was also responsible for several successful production agreement partnerships in more than a dozen countries.

"I've always been involved with sports _ volleyball, gymnastics and track _ I don't know how my mom shuttled me and my brother around," Smith said. "I wanted to get into a company that was involved with sports."

She added that mothers today are much more involved in sports and that sports can be a great conversation piece with children. Knowing the game and the lingo will help keep those conversations going.

The company has solidified three channels for distribution: retailers, youth sports leagues and "bundling" the Mom's Guide to Sports game-time guides with other consumer products. MomsGuide has already completed a successful link with WalMart. Consumers who bought Dr. Pepper or Seven-Up soda in the store were also given a guide.

MomsGuide also has teamed up with Amazon.com on selling the guides. MomsGuide recently inked a deal with MVP Sports, which carries the games guides in their retail stores. The first batch sent to the stores this past summer "blew out of the stores," Rourke said. Another, larger order, was just shipped out.

Smith is also working on community connections with youth sports leagues in being able to use the guides as a fund raiser, and also obtaining game schedules, nutrition and fitness information for sports-minded families. The guides can be purchased for fund raiser at a cost of $1.35 each and can then be sold for $3 to $5.

In addition, Rourke explained, they have an affiliate program for youth sports leagues and booster clubs who have web sites. Once the group signs an agreement with MomsGuide and create a link on its web site, every time the MomsGuide link is made the group will receive a percentage.

Further, Rourke says he is in discussions with a major sports cable television network to make a series of videos under the MomsGuide name.

Parts of the videos will be used for 30-60 second educational ads on specific sports programs. On top of founding the MomsGuide company, Rourke is a partner in the venture capital firm, Little Harbor Capital, LLC, which specializes in Internet company consolidations.

Little Harbor Capital is currently investigating the possibility of targeting other "mom-oriented" Internet companies to purchase and merge under the MomsGuide.com company. Rourke has also been able to ink a deal with Simon & Shuster to publish a series of books for mothers on pregnancy, nutrition, careers, finance, raising good students and discipline.

"We think the MomsGuide name lends itself to a variety of topics," said Rourke. "We're now looking at companies across the country with `mother' oriented web sites, businesses which are interested in being purchased and consolidated under MomsGuide.com to form a very large (Web)site."

With its "off to the races" approach Rourke knows there has been a tremendous increase in the use of the Internet by mothers, for both information and purchases. Rourke wants to offer a web site where mothers can search, learn and purchase. While the game-time guides cover 11 sports, Rourke said mothers will be able to learn about 30 sports on the Web site.

"Web research indicates soaring use of searching and purchasing online by women, but there are no major, well-branded Web sites focusing specifically on mothers and their special needs and interests," said Gayle Grader, director of marketing, a Marblehead resident and mother of two.

While the company is in its toddler stage, mothers from around the country are helping it grow. Rourke said there are "mom editors" in Ohio and California. Also stepping up to the plate to serve on the board of advisors are:

Beth VanStory, president of iMotors.com of San Francisco, a leader in selling used cars on the Internet.

D'Anne Hurd, chief financial officer and general counsel for North Andover-based NaviPath;

Kathy O'Brien, a group brand manager at Unilever HPC North America, working with the world's largest consumer package goods companies like Calvin Klein and Beyers Ice Cream; and

Lance Johnson, president and co-founder of Modernista!, a Boston ad agency. He's known for his work with The Travel Channel and for the 1998 campaign launching the new Volkswagen Beetle.

"The company is quite virtual. Many people are working on a remote basis," explained Rourke. "It's the perfect opportunity for mothers with the right professional experience to be part of something that is flexible and fun."