California high school signs eight-figure multimedia rights deal

The new frontier of sports rights might come at the high school level.

In a first-of-its-kind deal, California high school sports powerhouse Mater Dei has signed an “eight-figure” rights deal with Playfly Sports, according to a report by Front Office Sports.

The agreement is ten years in length and will pay the school “roughly $1 million” annually, per the report.

Playfly Sports is a marketing and media company that markets itself as a “revenue maximizer.” This deal will, seemingly, allow Playfly to sell Mater Dei’s media rights to potential partners, including television and streaming, though details about those aspects of the agreement are sparse.

Per the FOS report, the Mater Dei deal is likely the first of many that Playfly will ink with other powerhouse high schools across the country.

It’s important to note, this is not a name, image, and likeness agreement. California high schools are not allowed to negotiated NIL deals for athletes, though athletes are allowed to enter those deals on an individual basis.

Playfly Sports recently acquired Paragon Marketing Group, a company that has a long track record of marketing high school sporting events and, per FOS, has a two-decade long relationship with Mater Dei.

High school sports can be big business in certain markets, so it’s no surprise that certain schools will look to capitalize on that popularity with multimedia agreements.