Acquisition Unites Two Premier Platforms to Create a Premium Experience for High School Athletes and
Fans
ATLANTA—April 2, 2025— PlayOn, the premier fan engagement platform for high school sports, today announced the acquisition of MaxPreps, a leading source for high school sports schedules, scores, statistics, rankings, and more. This strategic acquisition from CBS Sports, a division of Paramount Global (NASDAQ: PARA, PARAA), will transform the high school fan experience and streamline the high school sports ecosystem by providing student-athletes, coaches, and fans with an unprecedented level of engagement, coverage, and accessibility.
MaxPreps joins the PlayOn family of brands, which includes GoFan and the NFHS Network. Combining PlayOn’s industry-leading ticketing, live streaming, and digital media capabilities with MaxPreps’ trusted scores, data, and analysis will create a premium experience for high school sports communities nationwide. Integrating these industry-leading products will increase visibility for student-athletes, improve fan coverage, and offer deeper insights for coaches, parents, and recruiters.
“The addition of MaxPreps into the PlayOn platform will transform the high school fan experience,” said B.J. Pilling, President, PlayOn. “This acquisition aligns with our mission to celebrate and support high school athletics by providing best-in-class technology, ticketing, media, and data services. Together, we will offer a comprehensive and engaging experience that more closely mirrors the collegiate sports landscape.”
Fans can look forward to a seamless service that makes it easy to stay up to date with their favorite teams and student-athletes, offering access to schedules, rosters, scores, statistics, rankings, tickets, streams, highlights, recaps, and more, while also enabling ticket purchases, game streaming, and reliving memorable moments through automated highlights and fan-generated clips.
Along with being a trusted resource for fans, MaxPreps is highly valuable for high school coaches who want to celebrate their student-athletes’ achievements and analyze their competition. The recent addition of VidSwap coaching tools and analytics to the PlayOn family of brands will fuel the automation of more statistics, highlights, and recaps to showcase on MaxPreps for the benefit of coaches, students, and fans.
“We are proud of the work by our incredible teams to build MaxPreps into one of America’s leading authorities on high school sports,” said Jeff Gerttula, Executive Vice President, CBS Head of Digital. “We are confident PlayOn will position MaxPreps for its next phase of growth and will continue to add value for millions of student-athletes and their loyal fanbases.”
“This is an exciting new chapter for PlayOn,” said David Rudolph, CEO, PlayOn. “By joining forces with MaxPreps, we can expand our impact and provide high school sports communities with a more dynamic and comprehensive experience. This collaboration will unlock new opportunities for storytelling, performance tracking, and fan engagement.”
The acquisition underscores PlayOn’s commitment to advancing high school athletics through cutting-edge digital services. Together, PlayOn and MaxPreps are committed to providing a unified solution that elevates the high school sports experience for everyone.
Current MaxPreps employees will become employees of PlayOn. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Inner Circle Sports acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Paramount. LionTree Advisors acted as the exclusive financial advisor to PlayOn for this transaction. Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP provided legal counsel for PlayOn.
For more information about PlayOn and MaxPreps, visit the Frequently Asked Questions page.
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About PlayOn
PlayOn is the premier fan engagement platform for schools. With PlayOn, school administrators save time to focus on what matters: the game, the fans, and the students. Best known for operating the NFHS Network and GoFan, PlayOn creates immersive digital experiences for fans to watch, attend, promote, and recap high school events so they never miss a moment. For more information, visit playonsports.com.
About MaxPreps
Since 2002, MaxPreps, a part of CBS Sports’ multiplatform offerings, has been America's source for high school sports information, serving millions of athletes, parents, coaches, and administrators monthly. Dedicated to covering every team, every game, and every player, MaxPreps supports local sports communities with its tools and award-winning photography, video, articles, and social channels. For more information about MaxPreps and for the latest high school sports news, scores, and expert analysis, visit maxpreps.com.
Media Contacts:
PlayOn
Peggy Blaze
(818) 357-3693
Peggyb@bubbleagency.com
Paramount Global
Allison McLarty
Senior Vice President, Corporate and Financial Communications
(323) 376-7903
allison.mclarty@paramount.com
Gabe Hajyousif
Senior Director, Corporate and Financial Communications
gabe.hajyousif@paramount.com
NFHS Network: Apr 18, 2025 12:15:00 PM
PlayOn