• by Sara Guaglione , December 2, 2015

Sports Illustrated Play, a new Time Inc. business devoted to youth and amateur sports, announced Tuesday a new partnership with US Lacrosse, the national governing body of men’s and women’s lacrosse.

The collaboration is part of a bigger push by Time Inc. to diversify its business by investing in new markets. “It is an exciting time at Sports Illustrated Play as we expand our services and products aimed to enrich the youth sports experience for players and participants,” stated Jeff Karp, CEO of Sports Illustrated Play.

Sports Illustrated Play will become the organization’s “Official League Management Partner,” providing registration and content management services to 450,000 US Lacrosse members nationwide. The partnership will enable US Lacrosse member leagues to use Sports Illustrated Play’s proprietary software tools, which include online registration, roster management, scheduling, websites and background checks.

Steve Stenersen, US Lacrosse CEO, explained that the partnership with Sports Illustrated Play is a good fit because they “share the same passion for and commitment to enhancing the youth sports experience.”

Back in July, Time Inc. created Sports Illustrated Play, a unit made up of three new acquisitions of youth-focused digital sports companies: SportsSignup, LeagueAthletics.com and iScore Sports.

Sports Illustrated Play teamed up with leaders in online sports management to provide a suite of tools for player registration, scheduling, communication and scorekeeping.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the deals came as the company tries to offset the decline of its traditional print business by increasing its digital platform and relying on the power of its well-known magazine brands, such as Sports Illustrated.

Time Inc.’s advertising and circulation revenue fell 9% and 7%, respectively, in the quarter that ended March 31. The sports deals could help the company reach a new audience and collect data that would be valuable to advertisers.

According to Joe Ripp, CEO of Time Inc., the youth sports space consists of approximately 30 million American athletes aged 5 to 17.

US Lacrosse, a nonprofit corporation, coordinates all activities of the U.S. National Teams Program and has 68 regional chapters across the country.