The Minnesota Twins have announced a three-year partnership with Techstars to bring a sports startup accelerator to Minneapolis, the team announced Thursday.
The program is officially called the Minnesota Twins Accelerator by Techstars. It's the second such program in Major League Baseball, after the Los Angeles Dodgers launched one in 2015, and the third Techstars program in the Twin Cities. The Twins program will host 10 startups from November 2021 to February 2022.
Startups can apply to join starting May 10. Boulder, Colorado-based Techstars is also looking to hire a managing director for the program.
The Twins knew they wanted to work with startups in some capacity as a way to attract new fans to the sport, especially younger fans said Joe Pohlad, the Twins' executive vice president of brand strategy and growth.
"It's rooted in finding different ways to evolve our brand beyond just baseball," he said.
Techstars runs accelerators with support from large business players. Its other Twin Cities accelerators are the Farm to Fork Accelerator, which is backed by Ecolab and Cargill, and a health care accelerator backed by UnitedHealthcare. Members of Techstars accelerators have the chance to work closely with sponsoring companies and sometimes strike deals with them.
Five executives from the Twins, including president and CEO Dave St. Peter and Twins assistant general manager Daniel Adler, and two from the Pohlad Companies will serve as mentors to startups in the program. The Twins will have an opportunity to invest in the companies.
The accelerator will have a broad focus on sports startups, Pohlad said. Participating companies could include software companies that make the Target Field experience better, digital media companies, fan engagement apps and more.
"Partnering with the Twins to influence and lead change in the way people and communities experience experiences - on and off the field - is something Techstars is very excited about," said Nancy Wolff, the general manager at Techstars.
