About

ABOUT

Video: YouTube.com/CU360
Social: @CloseUp360

CloseUp360 (CU360) is an Emmy-nominated media platform and production company focused on NBA and WNBA players, star athletes and sports insiders, and their impact beyond the game.

Embodying "The Players’ World Beyond The Game," CloseUp360 provides an immersive exploration of various facets of players' lives, from their personal journeys and career development to their impact in their hometowns, international endeavors, lifestyle pursuits, family connections and beyond—offering a comprehensive, 360-degree perspective beyond the game. Caron Butler, an NBA champion, Miami Heat assistant coach, successful entrepreneur, best-selling author and Emmy award-winning producer, serves as CloseUp360's strategic player advisor.

In more than five years, CloseUp360 has collaborated with hundreds of NBA players—among them elite talents like Stephen Curry, Chris Paul, Jayson Tatum and Dwyane Wade—by leveraging long-standing personal connections. With a focus on exclusive content creation, we've produced more than 150 long-form features (including our Emmy-nominated 90-minute documentary with NFL star Trent Williams), and thousands of original social videos and lifestyle photos. We've also organized overseas productions, working with stars like Kobe Bryant in China, Kyle Kuzma in Paris and Jaime Jaquez Jr. in Milan.

Additionally, CloseUp360 has spearheaded numerous initiatives to enhance players' off-the-court brands, worked with the biggest brands in sports (like NBA 2K and State Farm), and organized signature events at prominent sports and cultural moments like NBA Summer League and Art Basel Miami. We've also expanded to creating content with WNBA, NCAA and NFL athletes.

CloseUp360 was founded by Jared Zwerling, an accomplished sports media and marketing veteran whose career has spanned the NBA, CBS Sports, ESPN, Bleacher Report, the NBPA and Sports Illustrated. Throughout his career, Jared developed a niche in off-the-court coverage, tapping into the unique intersection and globalization of the culture, lifestyle and marketability of the game. That experience inspired him to build CloseUp360 into a specialized global media and production company.

PARTNERS

CloseUp360’s exclusive global marketing agent is Alliance Media, an established international media company that owns and operates TV stations and OTT services. Alliance Media has decades of experience in the generation, aggregation and distribution of sports and entertainment content across Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America, as well as building top sports channels worldwide.

For global distribution inquiries to secure rights for CloseUp360 exclusive content, please e-mail Alliance senior executive Sai Srinivasan at sai@alliance-media.tv.

For general CloseUp360 business inquiries, please e-mail info@closeup360.com.

PlayersTV is a television network dedicated to athlete lifestyle and culture entertainment. It reaches 300 million households (200 million in the U.S. and 100 million in Europe) through its partners DirecTV, Fire TV, Freevee, FuboTV, Local Now, Philo, Sling and YouTube TV.

Another partner, Reach TV, is the largest airport television network serving more than 2,500 gates and 950 venues in 90 commercial airports across North America. It also streams in more than 2,500 hotels across North America.

Pro athlete partners include NBA stars Carmelo Anthony, De’Aaron Fox, Kyrie Irving, DeAndre Jordan, Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, Chris Paul and P.J. Tucker, WNBA stars Alysha Clark and Chiney Ogwumike, and NFL stars Vernon Davis, Travis Kelce and Russell Wilson.

Ballislife is the biggest basketball network in the U.S. with 23 million followers across all social, including 8.5 million Instagram followers and 4.33 million YouTube subscribers. Overall, it's one of the top 10 sports media companies on social, according to Shareablee.

ClutchPoints is one of the 6 most engaged sports media brands in the U.S., according to Shareablee, with millions of followers (including 3 million on Facebook and 1 million on Instagram), 42 million monthly unique website views and 400,000 monthly users on its app.

LEADERSHIP

Jared Zwerling

Founder and President

It was only a matter of time.

The journey began when I started writing for my school newspaper at an early age. I was around eight. My first story was about an ambidextrous starting pitcher on our high school baseball team. I wondered, How could he throw 90 miles per hour with either arm? Turns out, he had broken his arm at one point and trained the other.

When I was 17, I landed my first professional writing job, as the youngest person on staff at Community Newspapers in my hometown of Miami. With my own business cards in one hand and a camera in the other, I set out to uncover every exhibit, business, restaurant and more in the city.

The rest of the time was spent fueling my burning passion for basketball.

After college and sports business graduate school at New York University, as I started covering the NBA regularly. I wanted to unearth everything surrounding the game: the culture, the lifestyle, the business. I was drawn to the off-the-court space, and it motivated me to successfully create positions covering that world at Bleacher Report, the National Basketball Players Association and Sports Illustrated.

Now, that itch to find and create opportunities has culminated with CloseUp360, syncing with the booming popularity of NBA players around the world. This is basketball’s time. And what happens beyond the game is now its own domain.

Writing, creativity and storytelling had always come naturally to me, but it was really the desire to advocate for players as people, change the content game and influence the youth that sparked CU360.

Seeing my mom run her own community groups and my dad manage a medical practice with his colleagues, I always had the desire to start a company with a purpose. At the root of watching my parents help others was an appreciation for people—who they really were, their lives, journeys, pursuits, emotions and everything else.

Media is in a disturbing state when it comes to truly understanding and profiling players. Today's clouded climate—silly, sarcastic and lazy one-quote content—has caused more players to distance themselves from reporters. The result: an incomplete picture of who players are off the court, and a disservice to kids who need to be surrounded by thought and perspective to develop as students. The NBA is entertainment, yes, but its players and league insiders offer so much more than what happens within 94 feet.

We are here to take you CloseUp to players in a unique 360-degree way, turning them into three-dimensional public figures, with trust, quality, credibility, authenticity and genuine storytelling at the foundation of the platform.

For everyone who has helped me along the way, thank you. I’m looking forward to continuing my journey with each of you.

Caron Butler

Athlete Advisor and Producer

After a stellar 14-year NBA playing career, which included winning an NBA championship with Dallas in 2011 and a pair of All-Star appearances with Washington in 2007 and 2008, Caron Butler returned home to Miami, where his NBA career began.

The 2020-21 season marked his initial foray into the world of coaching as he joined Erik Spoelstra’s staff as an assistant coach. Caron, who was universally respected throughout his playing career, was known for both his physical and mental toughness—traits that have made him a valuable asset to both the coaching staff and players.

In addition to Miami, Caron's playing career included stops in Los Angeles with both the Lakers and Clippers, Washington, Dallas, Milwaukee, Oklahoma City, Detroit and Sacramento.

Upon retiring as a player, the Racine, Wisconsin native also excelled off the court as a broadcaster.

He joined ESPN as a college game analyst in 2017 before joining Turner Sports as an NBA analyst in 2018. He filled numerous roles with Turner Sports, including being featured on NBA TV’s signature studio show, NBA Game Time, and NBA on TNT’s Players Only franchise.

Caron also earned acclaim hosting the “NBA Together” initiative during COVID and the social justice movement. He has also worked as a studio analyst for Spectrum SportsNet’s coverage of the Lakers and worked as an occasional game analyst for the Wizards during the 2019-20 season. In addition, he recently hosted a podcast, Tuff Juice, and in 2015 wrote an autobiography that's being produced into a biopic.

Caron and his wife, Andrea, reside in Miami and have a son, James Caron Jr. (J.C.), who plays in the G League, and four daughters, Camary, Mia, Ava and Gia.