Playfly Sports, a fast-growing full-service sports marketing company, today acquired three of FOX Sports’ leading businesses: Home Team Sports, Impression Sports, and FOX Sports College Properties. These additions propel Playfly Sports into a premium position in professional sports with the ability to help brands and advertisers reach households nationwide via live U.S. broadcasts of MLB, NBA, and NHL games, and expand their presence in the collegiate and high school multimedia rights space.
Playfly Sports’ innovative platform offers brands a differentiated advertising and media engine consisting of scaled linear, digital, and experiential assets that connect with sports fans at a local, regional, and national level.
“Playfly now has the unique ability to deliver brands to millions of sports fans on both a local and national level with the addition of these regional sports networks, professional sports teams, and top college athletics departments to our roster of dedicated business partners,” said Michael Schreiber, Founder and CEO, Playfly Sports. “And, we connect these brands with fans through new data-influenced, digital-enabled sports marketing solutions.”
“Playfly Sports’ portfolio covers the full lifecycle of sports fandom from high school sports, to college athletics, to the pro levels, and esports, too,” added Schreiber. “Most importantly, we are also adding the talented sports marketing team members from these FOX Sports divisions while maintaining our focus on our clients’ growth and innovation objectives.”
Playfly Sports is now able to engage with sports fans through the following partners:
- Partnerships with regional sports networks (RSNs) across the country, including AT&T, Comcast MASN, Marquee, NESN, SNY, etc.
- Representing over 7,800 live games per year for U.S.-based broadcasts of MLB, NBA, and NHL teams, including branded in-game/show integrations, branded-content platforms, live game streaming and highlights, and custom creative/advertising productions.
- College athletics multimedia partnerships for many top college properties, including Auburn, Denver, Florida, Georgetown, LSU, Maryland, Michigan State, New Mexico, Oakland, Old Dominion, Oral Roberts, Richmond, Saint Bonaventure, San Diego State, Troy, USC, and Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Villanova, Virginia, and Wichita State.
- Official relationships with major college conferences including Big East, Big Ten, and the Pac-12 plus naming rights to 10 college bowl games.
- Partnerships with high school athletic associations that cover nearly 25% of the US high school athletic programs, including Arizona, California, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington.
- Largest college esports league with a history of 1,800 schools participating, including all power five schools, and an esports services business targeting high school and collegiate esports partnerships.
All Home Team Sports employees will become Playfly Sports employees effective immediately. Craig Sloan, who was most recently Executive VP, Home Team Sports, has been promoted to President of the Playfly Sports’ Home Team Sports division, which includes Impression Sports. Kyle Sherman, former President, Home Team Sports, will also join Playfly Sports as Advisor to the CEO. Additionally, Chris Foy will lead Impression Sports and report to Sloan. FOX Sports College Properties and its dedicated and experienced leaders and team members will join Playfly Sports Properties under the Playfly Sports Properties President, David Johnston.
“It’s exciting to join Playfly Sports and become part of this extraordinary team,” said Sloan. “In just six months, Playfly Sports has done an incredible job of assembling an outstanding company that can offer any brand or sponsor access to fans at any level across the country. I look forward to helping Michael and his team grow Playfly Sports.”
In September 2020, Playfly partnered with Access Holdings, a Baltimore-based mid-market investment firm, executing a concentrated and long-term buy-and-build investment approach. Prior to the initial investment, Access Holdings worked closely with Playfly and Schreiber to develop a shared vision and aligned strategy and has since actively supported its execution to help Schreiber quickly build Playfly into a market leader.
About Playfly Sports
Playfly Sports is the full-service, leading sports marketing and media company that enables brands to engage with sports fans on a local, regional, and national level through scaled linear, digital, and experiential assets. Playfly Sports drives outcome-based solutions into 90-million households via more than 7,800 live U.S. broadcasts of MLB, NBA, and NHL games; and influences sports fans of all ages through the management of college multimedia rights, uniform branding, and high-profile sports sponsorship platforms. The company introduces high school and college students to career development opportunities in esports through CSL Esports, operators of North America’s largest college esports league. Playfly Sports has the unique ability to partner, innovate, and advance the aspirations of athletes, brands, academic institutions, and sports fans across the U.S. Playfly Sports is Powered by Partnership. Visit Playfly Sports online at playfly.com and follow Playfly Sports on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook: @PlayflySports.
