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AllCity Network, a nationwide digital sports network that makes podcasts and videos, has raised $9.4 million in Series A funding led by 2015 NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala’s Mosaic fund, AllCity co-founder and CEO Brandon Spano told Marketing Brew.
The cash injection will bring the company’s total raised to about $12.4 million with the goal of doubling the size of the company. The funds will be used to set up free ad-supported streaming (FAST) video channels early next year, hire local sales directors, and help support the creation of another local network, Spano said. (He didn’t say where exactly the new local network would launch.)
“We want there to be a full-time, 24-hour city-specific TV channel for every sports fan,” Spano said.
The funding marks one of the first major investments from Iguodala’s VC fund. Iguodala announced his retirement from the NBA in late October, and announced Mosaic shortly afterward. It has also invested in Vessel, a prefab modular home builder, and the management firm Athletes First.
With local sports networks in Denver, Chicago, Phoenix and Philadelphia, and a recent push into national shows, AllCity deploys a streaming-first approach, releasing near-daily podcasts and video content about professional sports teams around the country. In Philadelphia, at least, it’s taken a page from The Athletic—which was VC-backed before it was acquired by the New York Times—by hiring already-established local reporters and personalities, and making them the faces of local operations.
Spano believes that AllCity, which was founded in 2014 in Denver, can serve as an alternative to sports talk radio and regional sports networks.
“The actual infrastructure of legitimate local sports coverage and entertainment is crumbling inside of every city,” Spano told us. When asked if AllCity’s hiring strategy could be contributing to that, he said he “doesn’t necessarily think so…We try to get the best people that we can. We focus on us, and we do what we do.”
By relying on multiple revenue streams like merch sales and events in addition to advertising, Spano’s hope is to avoid the fate of VC-backed media companies that can’t find a way to build sustainable businesses. The focus as of now, he said, is to get its first three networks—Denver, Phoenix, and Chicago—to profitability.
The company had a total audience of 17 million in the third quarter, Spano said, with 13 million watching the network’s video content. For reference, AllCity Philadelphia’s YouTube channel, which debuted in September, has about 10,000 subscribers. AllCity Denver’s YouTube page, which started in 2015, has about 64,000 subscribers.
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