MHSAA signs 10-year deal with sponsorship, multimedia company

Winnipeg

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This article was published 12/02/2025 (608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

High school athletes across the province are about to get a little more time in the spotlight.

The Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association recently announced a 10-year partnership with Playfly, a sports marketing, media, and technology company which will now act as the MHSAA’s exclusive rights holder and sponsorship arm.

“The biggest thing for us, like all non-profits, is lowering our dependency on government funding,” said Chad Falk, executive director of the MHSAA.

“We appreciate all the support we get from Sport Manitoba, but we know its not going to grow much year to year. This is something new for us to explore that no one in this province has yet. We can’t just keep going back and raising fees or gate fees or anything like that. We have to find new ways of doing things.”

The MHSAA follows the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association and BC School Sports in inking partnerships with Playfly. High school sports organizations in Saskatchewan and Ontario are also in talks with the U.S.-based business, which represents 1,000 teams, including 17 U.S. high school associations, located across 43 states.

“Through this 10-year agreement, we aim to bring innovative sponsorship, marketing, and media solutions that will not only expand the reach of the MHSAA brand but also enhance the experiences of student-athletes and their communities,” Brent Vander Mey, vice-president of high school associations for Playfly Sports Properties, said in a statement. “This partnership reflects our commitment to fostering growth and creating new opportunities within the high school sports ecosystem.”

Falk, who has been at the helm of MHSAA for 10 years now, explained that prior to this partnership, securing sponsorship year-to-year was part of his job description. Now, Playfly will hire someone to work on sponsorships within the MHSAA office.

“Instead of us going out and seeking sponsorship, they pay us an annual fee that was equal or greater to what we were bringing in each year, which grows year to year,” Falk said. “There’s also a revenue-sharing model in case we see exponential growth. This has significant potential for revenue growth for our association, which opens more doors for us, which in turn means more we can offer our schools and athletes, whether that’s more opportunity or lower costs.”

Currently, up to a quarter of the MHSAA’s annual revenue comes from sponsorships, Falk said, explaining that these range from annual sponsorships to three-to-five year deals, and can include cash funding or in-kind sponsorships for equipment, for example.

“This will also free up a lot of my time to explore some new ideas,” Falk said.

One of those ideas, which Playfly should be able to help facilitate, is a livestreaming option for high school competitions.

“A livestream option has been a pipe dream for us,” Falk said. “Alberta has just ventured down that road, so our hope is our partnership will lead to that. Maybe that matures into a national school sports channel. You don’t want to take away from the live experience, but it’s about finding that happy place where everyone can enjoy this.”

Other initiatives on the drawing board include digital ticketing for provincial championships.

“This will be a considerable game-changer for the association,” Falk said.