BERWYN, PA (February 1, 2024) – Playfly Sports, the Fan Focused and Data Driven leader in sports media, marketing and technology, today announced the acquisition of Dan Lipman and Archie Woodhead’s London-based Evolution Sports. Now as part of Playfly, Evolution will work with Playfly’s U.S. team to maximize the commercial potential of its clients through unique activations and sponsorships, anchored in Playfly’s proprietary and data-driven methodology.
The Playfly Global Partnerships division currently engages with rightsholders worldwide, including the English Premier League and Bayern Munich, on a number of fronts including brand consulting. The acquisition of Evolution, with Lipman and Woodhead joining Playfly as co-managing directors, will provide Playfly with its first international office while accelerating the company’s global growth and deepening the team’s depth of leadership expertise.
In the four years since its founding, Playfly has quickly grown to become one of the largest sports media and marketing organizations in the U.S., reaching 85% of all U.S. sports fans. Today, Playfly works with more than 2,000 brand partners and 100+ properties, including the NHL, NBA and Major League Baseball. The company employs approximately 1,000 team members with offices in 43 states.
“The European sports sponsorship landscape is ripe with opportunity. Playfly is uniquely positioned to deploy our proven platform internationally, helping our partners authentically reach, engage, monetize and measure fandom,” said Playfly Founder and CEO, Mike Schreiber. “Dan and Archie have a proven track record of driving significant value for their partners – we look forward to joining forces and scaling this business even further.”
Playfly’s European operation will leverage Playfly’s vast network of brand partners, sales resources and innovative offerings to support internationally based sports leagues, teams and properties by monetizing their sponsorship and media rights, as well as engaging their U.S. audiences via Playfly’s proprietary resources and capabilities.
“Playfly drives more media revenue within U.S. professional and collegiate sports than any other entity, so we are eager to introduce this outstanding company to the European sports marketplace,” added Lipman. “The Playfly team already brings deep international experience with a wealth of global clients. We are delighted that our current and future clients will benefit from the size, scale and expertise that Playfly will provide, along with activating their ‘Fandom as a Service’ platform to unlock commercial success globally.”
Lipman and Woodhead have constructed and brokered technology-driven sponsorships that engage global fan bases to increase overall value. They built their careers at major agencies including CSM and IMG, and have created multiple proprietary technology products that revolutionized rights monetization across data, content, interactive fan experiences, broadcast and venues. Today their work includes commercial representation and advisory relationships with properties across soccer, motorsport, Olympic sports and tennis, including two of the five largest global sports organizations.
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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 with approximately 83% 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.
