Religion of Sports, the sports media production company founded by Tom Brady, Michael Strahan and Gotham Chopra, announced $50 million in Series B funding.
With the new investment, which brings the company to about $63 million raised to date, Religion of Sports plans to develop new intellectual property — including expanding into areas beyond sports like entertainment, business and music — as well as scale its creator network and increase global strategic partnerships.
The Series B round was led by Shamrock Capital, with participation from Cerro Capital and previous investor Elysian Park Ventures (the investment arm of the L.A. Dodgers). Other previous investors include LionTree, Advancit Capital and Courtside Ventures.
“Religion of Sports has grown at a pace we could have only dreamed about five years ago,” Tom Brady, the seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback currently signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, said in a statement. “I look forward to what the future holds for us at Religion of Sports as we continue to expand our slate and pursue more collaborative projects with new partners.”
Religion of Sports recently expanded into the NFT marketplace with ESPN’s “Man In the Arena: Tom Brady” series and through a partnership with Brady’s Autograph to release digital collectibles with Simone Biles.
Earlier this year, Religion of Sports announced plans to develop, finance and produce a slate of sports-related content for multiple platforms, with projects across scripted TV, documentary and audio including its first scripted project, “The Owl,” a rags-to-riches story about an orphaned Mexican-American boxer.
Religion of Sports, based in Santa Monica, Calif., was founded in 2017. The company’s projects have included shows for Facebook Watch, Apple TV+, ESPN, Showtime, Fox Sports and NBC Sports. In the second half of 2021, Religion of Sports debuted three docuseries following Simone Biles (“Simone vs. Herself” on Facebook Watch); Russell Westbrook (“Passion Play” on Showtime); and Tom Brady (“Man In the Arena” on ESPN+).
“Over the years, we’ve had the privilege of producing many stories, some with athletes themselves, others around the fans and the games themselves, that are anchored in that same core idea — sports matter,” Gotham Chopra, who is the son of Deepak Chopra, said in a statement. “Now with Shamrock aboard, we’re poised for even more growth and fun. And I couldn’t be more excited about the future of the ROS faith.”
L.A.-based Shamrock Capital says it has $3.6 billion of assets under management with investments in media, entertainment, communications and related sectors. The firm was originally founded in 1978 as the family investment company for the late Roy E. Disney and has evolved into an institutionally backed firm with backers including endowments, foundations, and sovereign wealth and pension funds.
