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Watching football at sports bars is nothing new — but this season, there’s a twist.
In March, the NFL and RedBird Capital created EverPass Media, a company designed to capitalize on the distribution of live sports — particularly exclusively streamed games into commercial establishments like bars, restaurants, hotels, and casinos.
EverPass launched with the exclusive out-of-home rights to NFL Sunday Ticket. DirecTV was the first deal signed — keeping Sunday Ticket at its business customers as the league’s out-of-market package transitions to YouTube. But a source told Front Office Sports that EverPass is still in the market selling Sunday Ticket’s out-of-home rights to other interested providers.
“When you think about the out-of-home market, there’s a number of different stats out there, but somewhere between 15-25% of the overall viewership of sports content in this country happens out of home,” Everpass CEO Alex Kaplan said to FOS. “That’s a huge market.”
EverPass has also tapped Peacock to distribute its live sports content to bars and restaurants, including an exclusive NFL playoff game. The deal was notable for being structured around a streamer, as opposed to satellites like the DirecTV deal. Interested commercial establishments can buy the Peacock Sports Pass.
As streaming technology continues to evolve, EverPass plans to be flexible in how it distributes content. “We think we can make money that way,” Kaplan explained.
DirecTV has a separate deal with Amazon for the commercial rights to distribute “Thursday Night Football” — a pact Everpass could theoretically vie for as it grows. “We’re having lots of conversations,” Kaplan said. “We already have a lot in a short amount of time. I think there’s more to do out there.”
