NFLPA Launches Media Company

ACE Media will create original content centered on athletes, beginning with the NFL players.

The new media company Athlete Content & Entertainment has launched in partnership with majority stakeholder, the NFL Players Association, to create original programming featuring the world's top athletes.

ACE Media's first offerings will focus on NFLPA's roster of more than 1,800 active NFL players with a range of sports-lifestyle content already slated for media outlets including BET and Bleacher Report.

While the NFLPA is a driving force behind the formation of the company, ACE Media's content will not be limited to NFL players.

"If this concept works for football players, we're confident it will be a success for baseball, hockey, basketball and soccer players as well, along with any number of other professional athletes from every sport across the globe," says Ahmad Nassar, a member of ACE Media's board of directors and president, NFL Players Inc., the NFLPA's licensing arm. "We look forward to building a company that will ultimately benefit all athletes by serving unique and compelling content across all sports and mediums."

A number of programs are already in production or development including the BET web series "#BLX," the series "Take it to the House" for Bleacher Report, a range of first-person perspectives for The Players' Tribune; and interviews and event-driven content for 120 Sports. Future plans include both scripted and unscripted television series, animated and other youth-oriented content, short-form content and audio programming, as well as expansion beyond football to incorporate athletes from other sports.

"Like all athletes, NFL players are an extraordinary group of people with an incredible range of talents, passions, perspectives and back stories. Many of those stories have flown under the public radar," adds Nassar. "ACE Media will aim to unlock those stories for diehard and casual fans alike and will reach new audiences as well by casting athletes in a light that allows their off-the-field attributes to amplify and complement their on-field accomplishments."

ACE Media will be led by chief executive officer Scott Langerman, a 20-year veteran of the sports and entertainment industries who has held senior positions at Comcast SportsNet and Turner Broadcasting, among other media companies. Most recently, Langerman was an executive and advisor at SB Nation (now Vox Media).

"ACE Media will be a totally different kind of media company with the unique ability to access professional athletes at scale to create a steady, year-round stream of compelling content opportunities," says Langerman. "Moreover, given our unique relationship with athletes, we'll be able to feed an expanding appetite for content in a way that's incredibly user-friendly, efficient and customizable. Regardless of where our partners sit within the content ecosystem, we'll be able to deliver a player-driven solution for their business, whether it's on the production, distribution or brand side of the industry."