BERWYN, PA (March 10, 2025) – Playfly Sports, the leading revenue maximizer of the sports industry, today announced the acquisition of Paragon Marketing Group, a highly-respected independent sports marketing agency that specializes in brand consulting, event creation, content development and television broadcasting.
Paragon Marketing Group manages over 500 partnerships annually, representing major national brands such as Gatorade, Pepsi, Chipotle, Highmark Health, uniball, UCHealth, PNC Bank, PPG, Pittsburgh Paints Co., Giant Eagle, and Novelis. Originally founded as Halo Sports in 1995, Paragon has built extensive industry relationships across sports, music, cultural arts, lifestyle, and content platforms.
Since 2002, its collaboration with ESPN has resulted in more than 1,300 live high school telecasts across the network’s platforms. These productions have showcased five future Heisman Trophy winners, nearly 30 NFL Pro Bowl players, over 130 first-round NBA draft picks, and almost 30 NBA All-Stars. Paragon has also developed and managed more than 20 owned and licensed properties, including the High School Showcase, Basketball Nationals, State Champions Invitational, State Champions Bowl Series spanning boys’ and girls’ basketball, lacrosse, volleyball, baseball, and football. Additionally, Paragon curates content for the @sportscenternext social channels with over 6M combined followers and serves as the front office for EYBL Scholastic, an elite 14 team national high school boys basketball league managed in partnership with Nike.
“Playfly has proudly been at the forefront of innovation across live local sports, scaled nationally, as well as multi-media rights, sponsorship and consulting, and we believe that the addition of Paragon perfectly aligns with our goal as a revenue maximizer for our partners,” said Playfly CEO Craig Sloan. “With Paragon’s decades of strong expertise and client portfolios in brand consulting, media property development, and event creation, especially in the high school sports landscape, we will super charge our growth and ensure Playfly remains the destination for brand partners and teams at every level of sports.”
“This is a transformative opportunity for both companies—we look forward to integrating Paragon’s team with ours, bringing an even broader strategic solution to the marketplace.”
Paragon’s team members will join various business units across Playfly Sports, including Playfly Sports Consulting, Playfly Premier Partnerships and Playfly Creates.
Additionally, Playfly Sports will establish Paragon Sports Marketing, a wholly owned subsidiary, which will operate independently and will oversee certain marquee events, live sports production, youth social media platforms and brand consulting relationships such as a 25-year-long partnership with Gatorade from its Chicago office. Rashid Ghazi and Julie Simmons, founding partners at Paragon Marketing Group, will oversee this unit with Ghazi serving as President and Simmons as Head of Operations.
“We have been monitoring Playfly’s explosive growth in the sports landscape over the past several years and are very excited about joining forces with them to deliver more opportunities for our partners by moving under the Playfly umbrella and utilizing its extensive network and resources,” stated Ghazi. “Paragon and Playfly share a common vision for the future of sports media and marketing, and our expertise will serve to complement Playfly’s continued growth as the leader in this space.”
“From the beginning, Paragon has always been about firsts—our first clients and partners who believed in us, the first-of-their-kind programs we brought to life and the first opportunities we created for young athletes to shine on a national, and even international, stage. This next chapter with Playfly is another exciting first, one that allows us to bring our passion, creativity and commitment to an even broader audience. We’re beyond excited for what’s ahead and grateful for the incredible team at Paragon, past and present, that has made this journey possible,” stated Simmons.
In addition to deepening Playfly’s reach within brand consulting and property representation, Paragon will elevate Playfly’s competitive position within high school sports. Playfly already works with 17 high school athletic associations, all of which will now benefit from Paragon’s signature high school events, social media expertise and relationships with national brands. This integration positions Playfly as a leader with premium inventory spanning high school, collegiate, and professional sports.
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ABOUT PLAYFLY SPORTS
Playfly Sports, the sports industry’s leading revenue maximization company drives growth for its partners across the sports ecosystem – including 2,000+ brands, 100+ professional teams, 65+ college athletic departments, all U.S. local sports networks and associated streaming platforms, and other marquee properties. The company uses its comprehensive and proprietary fan engagement platform to help its partners reach and engage over 85% of all U.S sports fans. Playfly builds and implements custom strategies across media, sponsorship and experiential for each of its partners by utilizing its own proprietary data, technology and storytelling. Playfly operates an expansive portfolio of services with a data-driven and fan-focused approach to maximize revenue yield in key growth areas, such as media, sponsorship, ticketing, premium experiences and fan engagement offerings. Founded in September of 2020, Playfly Sports is now home to approximately 1,000 team members located across 43 U.S. states and internationally dedicated to maximizing the impact of highly passionate local sports fans. The company has been named a Best Place To Work In Sports by Sports Business Journal, Front Office Sports, and Newsweek. To learn more, follow Playfly Sports on social media platforms or visit www.Playfly.com.
ABOUT PARAGON MARKETING GROUP
Paragon Marketing Group is a corporate consulting agency focused on sports, entertainment, and cause-related sponsorships having represented numerous Fortune 500 Companies. Additionally, Paragon is a leader in the elite youth and high school sports space specializing in event creation, live production and social media having collaborated with ESPN for over 22 years to deliver more than 1,300 live sports telecasts to its various platforms.
