Sports

No trolling allowed: Online football community hopes to score with fans

Key Points
  • A new online football community wants to connect players with fans, with no bullying, trolling or profanity allowed.
  • The site, called Fancom, was launched last weekend by National Football League insiders and those involved say were impressed by the response.
  • "You get an opportunity to watch your favorite team … but also have quality dialogue back and forth with guys that you respect," former NFL pro Bryant McFadden told CNBC.
NFL insiders launch online football community
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NFL insiders launch online football community

A new online football community wants to connect players with fans, with no bullying, trolling or profanity allowed.

The site, called Fancom, was launched recently by National Football League insiders, and those involved say they are impressed by the response.

Bryant McFadden, a two-time Super Bowl winner with the Pittsburgh Steelers, called it a "unique idea." There is no cost to sign up, and thus far, the site has 5,000 users.

Cornerback Bryant McFadden #20 of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
George Gojkovich | Getty Images

"You get an opportunity to watch your favorite team … but also have quality dialogue back and forth with guys that you respect and they have a credible resume," he said in a recent interview with CNBC's "Closing Bell."

McFadden is one of 25 pro football players, many of whom are now retired from the game, who are a part of Fancom. The site, which is structured around teams and not players, hopes to grow to 96 players. That would equate to three players per NFL team.

"If you are doing fantasy, if you just really want to learn about the game, if you want to know what's going on inside the game, you can come on this site and you can speak to us and we can have real hard-core discussions about it," said former Tampa Bay Buccaneers player Simeon Rice, also a Super Bowl champ and a Hall of Fame nominee this year.

Fancom's mission is to focus on "high quality" users and content. To that end, it said it has implemented a three-step monitoring system to make the site secure and free from trolls.

It also allows the players involved to get in on a piece of the action. The players are expected to share up to 50 percent of the net income of the platform.

"This is an opportunity for all of the player that are involved to not just be hands on as far as informing fans, but also reaping the benefits of it too," said McFadden.

— CNBC's Crystal Lau contributed to this report.