?The single sports content sites have had a tough time and no one is staying with us in getting across Europe,? said Jessiman. ?Even the media houses like Sky and Canal Plus are retreating.
?I don?t see them getting their show together and the field is left to the winners. It?s a big reason why we could step up for a cash infusion.?
Sports.com anticipates that the current funding round by its investors, which includes SportsLine.com, Soros Private Equity Partners and IMG, will see it through to profitability by mid-2002.
In June, Sports.com rival Sportal fought off bankruptcy by securing a $10m rescue package from its shareholders, management and a new investor, corporate financiers Dawnay Day Lander.
But Jessiman maintains that sports.com?s funding was ?pretty low-key and presented no major issues for us - our backers are blue-chip and wanted to top off their commitment.?
Sports.com has partnerships with Wimbledon Championships, the Open Championship and Manchester United FC, raised $52.5m in January last year and now generates about 120million page views per month.
The company also claims that advertising revenues are currently ?healthy?, and appear to be up on the last quarter, while other income streams offer increasing potential.
Said Jessiman: ?The advertising model is based on being the most visited sports site in Europe (across six countries), and the ad market is relieving after a slump. We have also built and operate our own betting platform, which is a totally different model from other sites, and a huge income source.?
Jessiman also told sportbusiness.com
Sports.com CEO Tom Jessiman has told sportbusiness.com the sports internet and mobile data company is well-placed to be the ?last man standing? in pan-European online sports content, following the #9.3million ($13m) equity funding boost from its existing investors.
