NFL, RedBird form Sunday Ticket venture
March 29, 2023
The NFL and RedBird Capital Partners have announced the formation of EverPass Media, a new media platform which will hold the exclusive rights to distribute NFL Sunday Ticket to bars, restaurants, hotels and other commercial venues in the US starting with the 2023 NFL season.
The multi-year licence of out-of-market Sunday afternoon games to EverPass Media will provide access to NFL Sunday Ticket for commercial businesses across the country. Going forward, the service will be available on a non-exclusive basis through all participating cable and satellite providers.
“Making our games as widely available as possible has been the bedrock of our media strategy and Sunday Ticket’s presence in bars, restaurants and other commercial venues provides millions of fans a way to watch all out-of-market games on Sunday afternoons,” said Brian Rolapp, the NFL’s Chief Media and Business Officer. “We look forward to working with EverPass Media to expand the Sunday Ticket footprint in commercial establishments across the country.”
“We are excited to partner again with the NFL to develop an innovative platform to expand the League’s reach to its fan base and the sports media ecosystem more broadly,” added Gerry Cardinale, RedBird Founder and Managing Partner. “Anchored by Sunday Ticket, EverPass Media will provide premium rights holders a scalable live event entertainment service that will enhance the customer experience at commercial establishments across the country.”
Launched in 1994 and consisting of all out-of-market Sunday regular-season NFL games (based on viewer’s location) broadcast on FOX and CBS, NFL Sunday Ticket allows fans in the US to follow all their favourite teams and players, no matter where they reside.
EverPass Media will be led by Executive Chairman, Derek Chang, and Chief Executive Officer, Alex Kaplan, both of whom are seasoned media executives with over 25 years of experience in sports and entertainment. EverPass Media intends to grow its content offering beyond NFL Sunday Ticket, providing businesses a broader premium live sports and entertainment service both in the US and globally.
“Our goal is to create a new model for commercial sports rights distribution around the globe, and we believe that this is just the beginning of an exciting journey,” said Chang. “Creating a platform that allows commercial establishments to deliver the content that their customers desire is a significant opportunity and technology allows us to aggregate this content to a platform that can scale and evolve the viewing experience.”
“Watching the NFL in bars and restaurants continues to be one of the most popular and important ways for fans to engage with their favourite teams,” said Kaplan. “NFL Sunday Ticket is an important offering for any commercial establishment, and we look forward to working with our partners to innovate the viewing experience to ensure that more establishments can benefit from this offering and ultimately serve more fans.”
RedBird is funding the creation of EverPass Media and the NFL, through its strategic investment arm 32 Equity, will also make an equity investment. Previously, the NFL and 32 Equity partnered with RedBird to create On Location Experiences, a global leader in premium live event hospitality and fan experiences.
As previously announced in December 2022, the NFL has licensed to Google the right to exclusively distribute NFL Sunday Ticket through YouTube TV and YouTube Primetime Channels to residential consumers in the US starting with the 2023 NFL season.