The NFL Now Owns a Piece of DAZN, Too

DAZN acquiring EverPass means the NFL’s investment arm will become a minority owner in yet another media company. RedBird Capital and the NFL’s 32 Equity founded EverPass, which makes live game streams available to bars and other commercial businesses, in 2023 primarily to handle Sunday Ticket’s commercial rights. Before becoming a DAZN shareholder through the EverPass deal, the NFL took 10% of ESPN earlier this year in exchange for many of its media assets, while Skydance Media’s merger with Paramount Global gave the NFL a minority piece of that business—which includes CBS—as well. EverPass has expanded to distribute other streaming content to bars and help operators navigate the revolution that is changing how games are watched both at home and in public settings. With the acquisition, EverPass will rebrand as DAZN for Business, with the groups blending their technical know-how. TKO Group, the parent company of the UFC and WWE, invested in EverPass in 2024. Now it and RedBird will also become minority DAZN investors. Financial details of the transaction were not announced. DAZN already works with the NFL, distributing its Game Pass product for international fans. It now is looking at offering commercial services outside the U.S. too. Hans Schroeder, NFL EVP for media distribution, said previously that the league’s equity in media partners “won’t affect how we think about the distribution and how we deploy our rights in the future.” “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,” Schroeder said in a statement Wednesday announcing the deal. DAZN has grown its U.S. presence in recent months—signing deals to distribute MLB, NBA and NHL teams’ local games on its platform—after years building a fight sports-focused business in the U.S. “We’ve established a really superb working relationship between us and the NFL,” DAZN chief revenue officer Walker Jacobs said. “This presented an opportunity for us to grow our relationship—which I think, certainly all of us at DAZN were eager to do. The NFL is one of the best partners we have, and having an opportunity to grow with them was something we were really pleased about.” DAZN has been pragmatic in its U.S. expansion efforts, at times sub-licensing some of its content to linear TV partners. Last year, EverPass carried DAZN’s Club World Cup games in bars and restaurants. Managing commercial rights could give it another way to help leagues and teams monetize their most valuable content. Commercial access to live games has gotten more complicated as streamers have claimed more exclusive content. Many of the largest tech companies have not invested in their own distribution strategies specifically for businesses. EverPass recently agreed to distribute Sunday Ticket via DirecTV, allowing bars to keep using satellite systems. DirecTV is also now responsible for marketing and selling EverPass in the U.S. EverPass CEO Alex Kaplan, who will continue leading the newly acquired business, said EverPass had grown to include a staff of 150 and more than $200 million in annual revenue. “We’re going to continue to invest in our platform and … the technology that we’ve built over the past three years,” Kaplan said. “We are focused on building and transitioning the commercial market into a streaming-first world.”