DAZN is acquiring EverPass Media in what will be the global sports streaming business’ biggest push into the U.S. market.
EverPass, which was founded a couple of years ago by the NFL’s 32 Equity investment arm and RedBird Capital Partners, holds the commercial rights to much of the country’s major sporting events, including NFL Sunday Ticket and live sports from Peacock, Netflix, Paramount and Apple. The company is responsible for selling and providing the infrastructure to deliver those events to bars, hotels and other commercial venues.
TKO is also an investor in the company. Terms of the new deal were not disclosed.
DAZN, meanwhile, is a global sports streaming platform, with a heavy emphasis on boxing in the U.S. (in other markets it is a larger sports player with major rights to local leagues). In recent months, however, it has pushed into the commercial space, taking over the local market streaming rights for the New York Knicks and Yankees, with other local teams expected to follow suit.
EverPass, however, will give it instant scale in the commercial space. RedBird, TKO and the NFL will become minority shareholders in the combined company.
“EverPass Media gives us a proven commercial distribution platform, deep relationships across U.S. venues, and an attractive portfolio of premium rights that perfectly complements our growing U.S. business,” said DAZN CEO Shay Segev. “DAZN can now serve every type of customer in the U.S. – from individual sports fans using the DAZN app to commercial venues looking to provide the best possible viewing experience for their customers.
“We are excited to expand our partnership with DAZN through this acquisition and continue to work with EverPass and DAZN to deliver the best NFLST experience to the commercial marketplace,” added NFL executive vp of media distribution Hans Schroeder. “Together, we will continue to expand reach for commercial NFL Sunday Ticket and deepen engagement in a key segment where fans gather for NFL football.”
RedBird founder Gerry Cardinale added that “RedBird and 32 Equity founded EverPass as sports content continues to move to streaming while many businesses remain tied to legacy distribution. EverPass delivers a purpose-built streaming platform which will help anchor DAZN’s commercial business and US expansion. We’re looking forward to working closely with DAZN in this next phase to scale the EverPass business globally.”
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