BERWYN, PA (August 7, 2024) – The Arizona Interscholastic Association and Playfly Sports, the fan-focus and data-driven leader in sports media, marketing and technology, today announced a three-year partnership extension for high school esports to 2027-28. Playfly’s esports division will continue to support AZEPreps, AIA’s unique high school esports community.
“The exceptional support and engagement from the Playfly Esports team during our first two years made renewing our relationship a straightforward decision,” said Brian Bolitho, Chief Business Development Officer for the AIA. “Maintaining consistent pricing for our schools will enable us to foster continued growth from our membership. We’re enthusiastic about the future of esports in Arizona and look forward to the opportunities ahead.”
Inking the original partnership in May 2022, AIA and Playfly will continue to grow participation across the association’s member schools. Entering their third year of partnership, the AIA is coming off a historic season where the league had nearly 100 schools participate, the most in the five-year history of the AZEPreps community.
“We are thrilled and thankful for the opportunity to support the AZEPreps community into the future,” said Charles O’Donnell, Head of Esports at Playfly. “The AIA, Brian Bolitho in particular, & the AIA Esports Advisory Committee have been so invested in the student-participants from programs that recognize the value in offering this outlet for competition & community. Our shared goals over the next several years are to grow participation, provide a best-in-class competitive environment and encourage the student-participants to explore competitive esports opportunities in higher learning.”
In the first two years, Playfly was able to integrate AIA’s existing website, bringing simplicity to the AIA esports site.
In April, the AIA Esports Championships took place at Paradise Valley Community College, seeing 12 high school teams compete in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Rocket League, and League of Legends. When schools sign up and pay the $1,800 entry fee, they can compete in all three games. For each of the games, they have an 11-week regular season in the spring followed by a postseason tournament for each game in the spring only. In the fall, teams compete in exhibition matches.
Playfly’s esports division oversees the largest collegiate esports community in North America, recently rebranded as Playfly College Esports. The community supports over 900 unique colleges & universities comprised of nearly 24,000 students which participate across 14 different game titles. Partnerships such as AIA, allow for high school student-athletes to obtain skills typically recognized through traditional sports and to foster intellectual & competitive curiosity as students consider opportunities in college or the workforce.
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ABOUT PLAYFLY SPORTS
Playfly Sports is a sports media, marketing and technology business centered around the team, league, brand and network. Believing in ‘Fandom as a Service’ and focusing on a consultative, data-driven approach to REACH, ENGAGE, MONETIZE AND MEASURE FANDOM gives the company’s partners and brands a competitive advantage. Playfly connects more than 2,000 brand partners and over 100 sports properties and entities to approximately 85% of all U.S. sports fans. Through the proprietary platform, the business delivers scalable, data-oriented marketing, technology, and media solutions with capabilities including exclusive MMR management, sponsorship sales and activation, streaming, consulting, ticket/premium sales, all along with new revenue-driving platforms and technologies. Founded in September of 2020, Playfly Sports is now home to approximately 1,000 team members located across 43 U.S. states dedicated to maximizing the impact of highly passionate local sports fans. Follow Playfly Sports on social media @PlayflySports or visit www.playfly.com, and for more on esports follow @PlayflyGG on social media or visit playflycollege.gg.
ABOUT ARIZONA INTERSCHOLASTIC ASSOCIATION
The AIA is a voluntary association of public and private Arizona high schools. Since 1913, the organization has created and sustained interscholastic activities that encourage maximum student participation by providing AIA member schools with an even playing field to ensure fair and equitable competition. The AIA believes that providing interscholastic activities for Arizona high school students creates personal development opportunities with a balanced focus on academics and extracurricular activities. Through its Arizona member schools, the AIA reaches more than 100,000 participants in high school activity programs. The organization hosts 5,000 championship contests and officiates more than 45,000 regular season games. For more information, visit www.aiaonline.org and www.azpreps365.com.
