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Range buys Impact S&E, forms hospitality division

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Range buys Impact S&E, forms hospitality division

Range Sports

Range Sports has acquired Impact Sports + Entertainment for an undisclosed amount and formed a new hospitality and experiences division called Range Access. For two decades, Impact’s leadership — Jim Zissler, Alan Baum, Jason Zinna and Rich Williams — has provided unique experiences to fans, Fortune 500 companies, and high-net worth individuals built around the Super Bowl, Olympics, Masters, and U.S. Open tennis championships, for example, and will combine that with Range Sports’ access to its celebrity and athlete talent (clients include Bradley Cooper, Halle Berry and Jack Harlow), bringing a new wrinkle to the increasingly competitive custom VIP experiences space. Impact’s seven employees will join Range Access; the four Impact co-heads will run the new vertical and report to Range Sports Co-Presidents Will Funk (the former 20-year WarnerMedia EVP) and Greg Luckman. 

Range Sports was launched two years ago and is part of the larger, 4-year-old Range Media Partners, which was created by roughly a dozen influential Hollywood agents, including from CAA (where Luckman spent nine years), and backed financially by Mets owner Steve Cohen. Range Sports has largely focused on talent representation, with clients including NFL quarterback Brock Purdy (one of roughly 30 NFL clients) and Olympian Gabby Thomas. Range Sports also advises clients on media and content distribution and brand partnerships, evinced by the recent arrangement of a jersey patch deal for the Pelicans and a kit sponsorship for Gotham FC. The Impact addition is the latest (and fifth) acquisition by Range Sports. which has added NFL, Olympic and golf talent representation agents and firms, as well as media rights advisory capabilities, through hires and acquisitions. 

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The Impact quartet first helped launch Inside Sports & Entertainment Group in 2004, which was later acquired by CAA Sports in 2014 to form CAA Premium Experiences. In 2019, they went back out on their own with the formation of Impact. Range Access will provide tickets and hospitality, travel packages built around sporting events, and arrange talent appearances, while offering consulting on any related efforts. Past example: Impact, now Range Access, had a partnership with Madison Square Garden from 2017-20, in which Impact got broadcast and in-arena brand exposure, while MSG could use Impact’s services to host its top clients, sponsors, and broadcast partners at The Masters or Kentucky Derby. Impact also provided exclusive hospitality opportunities for MSG clients during college basketball events during that span.

Range Access’ entrance into the premium experiences space further heats up competition in that niche of the industry; On Location and Quint are the headliners in the space, with Elevate Experiences, created from Elevate’s acquisition of Zinc, a company focused on corporate hospitality, another recent entrant.

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