Bruin Sports Capital and RedBird Capital Partners "are forming a sports hospitality firm that will market and sell exclusive NFL access and experiences to the league’s marquee events," according to Kaplan & Smith of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. The NFL "not only is issuing Bruin and RedBird a 10-year license for those events, but the league also will be a partner in the new company." The new hospitality firm "will work with the league to create access and assets that aren’t available anywhere else." Previously, that kind of exclusive access at the Super Bowl, Pro Bowl or NFL Draft "was available only through a unit known as NFL On Location." Bruin and RedBird "will own equal shares in the new hospitality business, but the companies did not say how the ownership percentages break down." They "are calling the new company NewCo for now until a formal name is selected." A branding firm "will be retained shortly to name the larger company, but the new name will not have the NFL in it." The NFL On Location name will "remain as a product line." Sources said that the high-margin hospitality unit does about $20M annually in revenue by "packaging experiential trips to the NFL’s big events ... suggesting that amount as the starting point for the annual cost of the license." Bruin and RedBird "will look to expand the business into other sports, as well." NewCo "is the first deal for Bruin, formed in January by former IMG Sports & Entertainment President George Pyne." Bruin, an operating company capitalized by WPP and a handful of wealthy families, will run the new hospitality firm, a job for which Pyne appears well suited after long stints with IMG and NASCAR" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 3/30 issue). The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Matthew Futterman notes the NFL "has never truly spun-off a part of its business or formed a separate company aimed at servicing the needs of other sports entities or entertainment companies." The venture thus "should test the power of the NFL brand as a force beyond the football field and especially internationally, where the hospitality business at sports events is far behind the U.S. market" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3/30).
