EverPass Media has inked a deal with Disney‘s ESPN to distribute live games and other content from its ESPN+ streaming service to bars, restaurants and other commercial establishments in the U.S.
The deal bulks up EverPass’ offering of live sports streaming to businesses. EverPass already provides the NFL’s “Sunday Ticket” package, as well as all NFL games that are available exclusively on streaming services this season, such as last Friday’s matchup that was only shown on Alphabet‘s YouTube.
Live sports reign supreme over most other content in attracting big audiences on both traditional TV and streaming platforms. But as viewers continue to shift toward streaming, professional leagues are increasingly signing media rights deals that see some games only offered via these services — such as Amazon’s “Thursday Night Football” package and other exclusive games.
“You have these streaming-only games on various different platforms, right? It sometimes can be tricky, even at home, to figure out where to go,” said Alex Kaplan, CEO of EverPass, in an interview. “Clearly streaming is here to stay and it’s probably going to continue to be fragmented [for the consumer]. So I think a big part of what we’re building in our value proposition is to aggregate that content.”
The multi-year agreement with ESPN marks EverPass’s biggest addition of live games since it was launched in 2023 as a joint venture between the NFL and RedBird Capital Partners. Last year, TKO, the parent company of the UFC and WWE, also became an investor.
Beginning in October, ESPN+ will be sold as a separate package to new and existing EverPass customers.
The addition of ESPN+ will come with more than 2,200 live events every year, which includes college football and basketball, the NHL, international soccer, PGA Tour Live events and coverage of other major sporting events.
In August, ESPN launched its first-ever direct-to-consumer streaming app that includes the entire suite of its traditional TV content. The unlimited plan for ESPN — the streaming app has the same name as the flagship TV Network — costs $29.99 a month or $299.99 annually.
However, the network’s deal with EverPass will solely offer content from ESPN+, the sports network’s initial streaming platform that has its own exclusive games and coverage separate from its linear TV networks. ESPN+ is now part of the flagship streaming app ESPN, and individual consumers can pay for ESPN+ content in a membership tier called ESPN select, which costs $11.99 per month or $119.99 annually.
For businesses, the service is still referred to as ESPN+ for now.
EverPass became an alternative option from DirecTV for “Sunday Ticket” games in the 2023 season. The company had acquired UPShow — a platform with tech capabilities to allow commercial establishments to stream live sports — for an undisclosed amount that year.
Prior to the acquisition, EverPass had also licensed the rights to DirecTV to continue distributing “Sunday Ticket” to commercial establishments. Until then, DirecTV had been the sole provider of the package of games to both businesses and consumers. That same season, YouTube TV took over as the rights owner of “Sunday Ticket” for consumers.
Since then, EverPass has become the streaming distributor to businesses for Comcast‘s Peacock, which has included exclusive NFL games. It also offers Amazon‘s Prime Video for a variety of sports outside of the NFL, and international soccer featured on Paramount+.
EverPass has become a streaming distributor for chains like Buffalo Wild Wings and Dave & Buster’s, said Kaplan, and the company is looking to grow in various ways. That could include more media rights deals, partnering with traditional pay TV providers like Charter Communications or being offered in more commercial establishments, he added.
Kaplan told CNBC that EverPass remains in discussions for adding more content with both current and potential new partners.
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
