DAZN is expanding deeper into the U.S. sports advertising market with an agreement to acquire EverPass Media, bringing a specialized commercial sports distribution platform into its global streaming business. The deal will give DAZN technology, rights and venue relationships spanning bars, restaurants, hotels and other commercial locations, while turning EverPass into the foundation of the newly expanded DAZN for Business operation.
The next battleground in sports streaming may not be the living room. It could be the bar, restaurant, hotel or other venue where groups of fans watch live games together.
DAZN is positioning itself for that market with an agreement to acquire EverPass Media, a U.S.-based sports distribution and technology company built specifically for commercial venues.
The transaction expands DAZN’s U.S. footprint while giving the sports streaming company an established platform for distributing premium live sports outside the home. Once completed, EverPass will be rebranded as DAZN for Business, with its technology becoming the operating foundation for DAZN’s commercial venue business.
The acquisition is significant because sports rights are increasingly moving from traditional television distribution toward streaming. That shift creates an unusual problem for commercial venues: a restaurant or bar may need access to multiple streaming services, displays and content sources rather than relying on a single satellite or cable package.
EverPass was created in 2023 by 32 Equity and RedBird Capital Partners to address that transition. Its platform is designed to manage premium streaming content across multiple screens and locations, while integrating with existing audiovisual infrastructure.
DAZN now plans to build on that technology.
The company says the combined business will allow it to serve sports audiences across major viewing environments in the U.S. — from consumers watching at home to customers watching games in commercial venues.
That is becoming strategically important as live sports rights fragment across streaming platforms.
EverPass currently holds exclusive commercial distribution rights for NFL Sunday Ticket, providing access to live out-of-market Sunday afternoon NFL games for commercial customers. In July, EverPass and DIRECTV agreed to collaborate on distributing NFL Sunday Ticket through satellite and streaming, expanding commercial access across the U.S.
Its broader content portfolio includes programming from the NFL, English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, MLB, NBA, WNBA, NWSL, NASCAR, PGA TOUR, MLS, Formula 1 and college sports.
EverPass also has distribution relationships involving platforms such as Peacock, Netflix, Paramount and Apple, along with regional sports networks including YES Network and Chicago Sports Network.
For DAZN, those relationships complement its existing direct-to-consumer expansion in the U.S., including partnerships with Top Rank Boxing and Premier Boxing Champions.
The result is a two-sided sports media strategy: DAZN can increasingly monetize rights through consumer subscriptions and commercial distribution rather than treating them as separate businesses.
That distinction matters for advertisers and rights holders.
The commercial venue represents a different advertising environment from the home. Fans watching a game at a sports bar are part of a social viewing experience, and venues can potentially monetize that audience through food and beverage sales, promotions, sponsorships and location-based marketing.
For media companies, commercial distribution can also create another route for sports rights to generate value beyond conventional household viewing.
EverPass’ technology is central to that proposition. Its platform supports centralized management of multiple screens and locations, content scheduling, commercial streaming devices and integration with existing AV systems. It also provides tools intended to help businesses promote offers, engage customers and measure performance.
Those capabilities move the company closer to media infrastructure than a conventional streaming service.
The broader advertising market is moving in the same direction. According to the Interactive Advertising Bureau, U.S. digital video advertising is projected to surpass $80 billion in 2026, growing 11% year over year. Digital video is also expected to account for more than 60% of total TV and video ad spending for the first time.
Sports are a major contributor to that migration. IAB has specifically identified the movement of live sports rights onto streaming platforms as an important driver of connected-TV growth.
That creates an opportunity for companies capable of connecting premium live content with more addressable digital distribution.
DAZN’s acquisition of EverPass is therefore not simply about adding another distribution channel. It is an attempt to build infrastructure for the commercial streaming economy.
The competitive landscape is already crowded. Amazon, Netflix, Paramount, Apple and other major technology and media companies are securing or distributing sports programming, while traditional broadcasters continue to operate large commercial and linear television businesses.
DAZN’s differentiation will depend on whether it can combine rights, technology and venue distribution into a sufficiently scalable platform.
For enterprise venue operators, the proposition is straightforward: simplify access to premium sports while reducing the operational complexity of managing multiple screens and content sources.
For rights holders, the opportunity is broader commercial reach.
For advertisers, the potential value lies in accessing audiences during highly engaged live events across an environment that has historically been difficult to integrate into digital media strategies.
Measurement will remain a critical issue. As sports viewing becomes more fragmented across streaming services, advertisers increasingly expect consistent audience data, attribution and outcome measurement. IAB’s 2026 research shows that performance, transparency and targeting are becoming increasingly important as digital video investment grows.
DAZN says it will invest further in EverPass’ platform, content portfolio and geographic reach with the goal of creating a global technology and distribution platform for premium sports in commercial venues.
If the strategy works, DAZN will have something few sports streaming companies can claim: a business capable of following the fan from the living room to the restaurant, from individual viewing to communal sports experiences.
That makes EverPass less of a standalone acquisition and more of a piece of DAZN’s broader ambition to control the infrastructure through which sports are consumed.
Market Landscape
The DAZN-EverPass deal arrives as live sports become a central driver of streaming adoption and CTV advertising.
The shift creates a fragmented rights environment. A single commercial venue may need access to content from several streaming services, linear networks and specialized sports platforms. Managing those feeds across multiple screens can become an operational challenge.
EverPass addresses that problem by providing a commercial-grade distribution layer between rights holders, platforms and venues. DAZN’s acquisition gives that infrastructure a much larger international sports ecosystem to operate within.
The advertising implications are also significant. IAB projects digital video advertising to surpass $80 billion in U.S. spending in 2026, while digital video is expected to exceed 60% of TV/video advertising investment.
For advertisers, commercial venues represent an extension of the streaming video opportunity into physical environments. The next challenge will be connecting those audiences to measurable media outcomes without sacrificing the communal nature of live sports viewing.
DAZN’s strategy suggests that the future of sports distribution may increasingly involve one technology layer serving both consumer and commercial audiences.
Top Insights
- DAZN’s EverPass acquisition expands its U.S. footprint into commercial venues while creating a unified business for bars, restaurants, hotels and other locations.
- EverPass brings NFL Sunday Ticket commercial rights, sports distribution relationships and purpose-built streaming infrastructure into DAZN’s global platform.
- The deal reflects sports rights moving rapidly toward streaming, creating demand for technology that simplifies commercial multi-screen distribution.
- Advertisers could gain new opportunities to reach highly engaged live-sports audiences beyond traditional television and household CTV environments.
- DAZN’s challenge will be scaling commercial distribution while maintaining reliable content delivery, measurement, rights management and venue-level operational control.
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