Sports entertainment company Pro League Network (PLN) is expanding its content-production operation in the US with the launch of a studio in Branson, Missouri. The new facility, called PLN Studios, will be the place for PLN combat sports, such as SlapFIGHT Championship, CarJitsu Championship Gorilla Games, and Ultimate Tire Wrestling, as well as weekly entertainment shows, such as BFC Extreme studio show, and entertainment programming.
PLN on its website notes that it creates fun sports, exclusively produced for sports wagering operators. The company aims to create fun, exclusive, and niche sports brands curated specially for broadcast audiences and betting. It prepares and monitors each sport for wagering and produces, distributes, and monetizes each sport through wagering, sponsorship, and affiliate.
The new PLN studio facility is the former home of SlapFIGHT Championship, which the company acquired earlier in September this year. The championship was led by JT Tilley, the founder and CEO of SlapFIGHT Championship, who joined PLN as creative director following the acquisition.
PLN Studios houses the full production equipment, including a dedicated sound booth, AV equipment, custom lighting, photo walls, green screens, a control room for production and sound and video mixing, and a graphics-production room.
In addition to serving as a content-production operation, the facility will also be used by athletes from PLN’s respective combat sports to test and develop emerging sports that will eventually become part of the company’s portfolio.
PLN will have a centralized location to produce its sports at its dedicated studio. The space will also offer increased competition in the coming year, with the company planning to expand its sports entertainment offerings, creating pregame and studio shows focused on its competitions.
PLN to open a separate studio on the East Coast
PLN also plans to launch a separate studio on the East Coast and aims to increase its programming production to as many as 40 hours per week by the end of the year.
“Having a dedicated studio to produce our sports has been one of our goals from day one,” says PLN co-founders Bill Yucatonis and Mike Salvaris.
“The PLN Studio will allow us to accelerate our entertainment and competition programming next year and will give us a great home to develop new sports that we’ll introduce to the market in 2024.”
PLN Studios to launch dedicated space with Pro League Network Grappling Challenge
PLN Studios says that the first series to come out will be its Pro League Network Grappling Challenge, in which PLN athletes compete across three of PLN’s sports: Gorilla Games, CarJitsu, and Tire Wrestling. PLN noted that the first episode of the PLN Grappling Challenge will drop later this month.
In December 2022, PLN launched a new type of sports entertainment that combines its unique sports portfolio with established creator audiences and deep expertise in regulated-wagering markets.
The show called ‘Watch’n’Wager’ aims to entertain sports fans and allows sportsbooks to better monetize the peaks and valleys of the schedule with compliant, regulated professional sports content.
Pro League Network investors include Roger Ehrenberg via Eberg Capital, Kevin Garnett via Big Ticket Sports, and Emmy Award-winner John Brenkus and BrinxTV. Industry veterans Chris Grove (Acies Capital, Eilers & Krejcik) and Jeff Ma (ESPN, Microsoft) are PLN Advisors.
Apart from CarJitsu Championship, and SlapFIGHT Championship PLN’s portfolio houses 18 brands. These include the World Putting League, CarJitsu Championship, and SlapFIGHT Championship, as well as emerging sports like XTreme Long Drive, Pro Footgolf, Pro Carrom Tour, Strongman, T3 TouchTennis, and Beastball.
The company is also slated to launch its 3×3 streetball-style basketball league str33t, co-produced with Kevin Garnett and Big Ticket Sports in February 2024.
PLN sports are carried on popular sportsbooks including DraftKings, Bet365, and Betfred among others. It is available for wagering in more than 16 states including New Jersey, Tennessee, Arizona, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. It is also available in several countries including Canada, UK, and Australia.
