Mater Dei announced its partnership with the multi-media marketing platform Playfly Sports just before heading into the school’s 75th Anniversary last spring, on March 9, 2025. This 10-year, 7-figure rights agreement is expected to bring additional revenue and sponsorship opportunities for the Mater Dei athletic programs, allowing coaches and teams to utilize their limited resources and funds elsewhere. As the first high school to sign a multi-media rights agreement with an external media network, Mater Dei hopes to establish and provide a standard for the marketing of high school athletics.

Playfly, a sports marketing brand founded in 2020 by Michael Schreiber, was established to utilize its connections for sponsorships and branding opportunities. Playfly aims to engage audiences, involve communities, and support revenue growth for athletic teams. Playfly Media has collaborated with the MLB, NBA, and NCAA athletic teams, providing media partnerships and streaming services in addition to its partnership with Mater Dei.

According to Playfly’s website and their dedication to diversity in the field of athletics, the marketing platform states, “As we work towards a reinvigorated and more inclusive sports marketing and media sector, we are proud to work alongside some of the most prestigious sports properties, brands, and innovators.”

Bryan Ponce ‘09, Playfly representative and general manager overseeing the partnership with Mater Dei, speaks of the benefits and opportunities Playfly has to offer. From their widespread database of partnerships and connections, Playfly hopes to act as Mater Dei’s spokesperson to prospective sponsorships. Also a Mater Dei alumnus, Ponce provides a unique perspective between his alma mater and the high school athletics marketing sector.

“Playfly has been [in the field of athletic marketing] for a good while, [like] the last four or five years, with major programs within colleges and pro sports,” Ponce said. “[We are] able to leverage the experience and relationships that Playfly has in their own network, and bringing that to Mater Dei will definitely help enhance the experience for everybody.”

Using PlayFly’s connections with current sponsorships, such as Gatorade and Nike, in addition to marketing the Mater Dei athletics program to new businesses, will help create a more stable endowment and ease concern regarding the finances for athletic programs.

“Essentially, PlayFly is helping Mater Dei oversee all corporate sponsorships like traditional high school sports,” Ponce said. “[With] PlayFly coming in, we are responsible [for driving] money for the school by bringing in those types of sponsorships and, more importantly, relationships within the community to kind of enhance the experience for kids, students, athletes, parents, and fans.”

Khalid Holmes ‘08, special assistant to the president and associate head football coach, speaks of the benefits of an external marketing platform. As a former Mater Dei student and NFL player, Holmes helped establish the partnership between PlayFly and Mater Dei and oversaw all marketing campaigns and fundraising efforts.

“I’ve been focused on trying to drive more corporate partnerships and realized that [this could be] a great opportunity with more support and expertise,” Holmes said. “I reached out to some folks at USC [to ask] for [the] best practices and guidance. This conversation kind of organically came up, and both sides were interested.”

With an external marketing platform employed to maintain and manage partnerships, coaches will have more time and energy to focus on the well-being and collaboration of their team. As coaches have the chance to invest and interact with their team further, Mater Dei hopes to improve the athletic experience and performance for all Monarch athletes.

“I’d like us to be able to get to a point where operational costs are not a concern for programs and coaches,” Holmes said. “If we can offset most of those with corporate partnership support, [this] would allow the coaches to focus more on coaching.”

In addition to enhancing the experience of both coaches and athletes, the Playfly x Mater Dei collaboration will also engage Mater Dei’s alumni network and the broader Orange County community. Mater Dei’s alumni are known for their continuous support and willingness to help current and future Monarchs.

“I think the biggest piece [of] what I’ve been doing is connecting with alumni,” Ponce said. “Mater Dei has a really tight community, and [there are] a lot of people that stay connected, but more importantly, want to help. Educating them on the relationship with Playfly has been super beneficial.”

In the last few months, PlayFly has maintained relationships with many of Mater Dei’s previous sponsors and connected with new brands. The Mater Dei administration hopes to announce these other relationships in the near future. These added funds will improve the experiences for future Monarchs in the following years of Mater Dei history. Scott Melvin, Vice President of School Relations, further emphasizes the impact of this collaboration.

“[Playfly is] continuing our sponsorships with Farmers & Merchants Bank, Sodexo, KYOCERA, the Boris Foundation, Nike, and Gatorade,” Melvin said. “You might see Gatorade and Nike more [prevalent] on campus. You’ll start seeing some of those [new partnerships] this semester.”

Although Playfly will assist with marketing Mater Dei and its athletic programs, the school will maintain the school’s identity and social media accounts. In the near future, interactive videos, organized by Playfly and their media teams, will be featured on the Mater Dei Instagram accounts.

“We’ll still run all of our social media internally, but there will be input and support from Playfly,” Melvin said. “We would have posted [the videos], but Playfly would have created [them]. We will still manage the identity of the teams.”

The collaboration not only benefits the experience of athletes but also the greater student body. Furthermore, this partnership plays an important role in bringing school spirit and pride to new heights.

“The beautiful part about [this partnership] is that it’s not only going to benefit athletics, it’s going to benefit the school-wide,” Melvin said. “With [added] tuition assistance support, [we are going to] be able to bring fees down across the board and make the whole experience of going to a Mater Dei game super fun.”

The Mater Dei and Playfly partnership will ultimately create a standard for high school athletics and external media collaborations. The added sponsorships and upbeat game-day experience will truly unify the school community in spirit and pride.

“There’s always collaboration between Mater Dei and [Playfly],” Ponce said. “I think that’s also an important piece of this partnership; it’s also a relationship.”

This story was originally published on The Scarlet Scroll on September 18, 2025.