Brandon Spano inside DNVR Bar at 2239 E. Colfax Ave. in 2020. His company now operates audio-and-video-heavy sports news sites in five cities. (BusinessDen file)
DNVR is getting more siblings.
The Denver sports news site’s parent company AllCity Network launched operations in a fifth city this week, on the heels of a $12 million funding round led by broadcast company Tegna.
“I think we feel right now that we have more momentum than we ever had,” said AllCity CEO Brandon Spano. “But with capital comes growth expectations.”
Spano founded what became known as DNVR in 2015, after years as a host on Mile High Sports Radio. It began as a blog, then gradually added components. Podcasts started in 2016, and went daily in 2017, when subscriptions became required to read articles.
Merchandise and events ramped up and, in 2020, DNVR started operating out of a Little Pub Co. bar on Colfax near East High School. The pandemic dampened the vibe for a while, but the company started broadcasting video of its podcasts live on YouTube.
“Once sports came back, we just said, ‘Hey, this is the model now,’” Spano said.
Spano now considers the company something of a cross between a regional sports network and sports talk radio. The company has between six and 10 hours a day of live audio and video in each market, he said, parsing the latest game, the unexpected trade or the upcoming draft.
“You can listen to us all day. Any time something happens, we’re going live,” he said.
The $12 million investment round announced this month is the company’s second major capital raise in the past year. AllCity announced a previous $9.4 million round last November. That one was led by Mosaic, a venture capital fund established by former NBA player Andre Iguodala. Mosaic contributed additional funds in the latest round.
In total, AllCity has raised about $25 million since inception, Spano said.
A sign for DNVR Bar. (BusinessDen file)
While most of its investors are outside of Colorado, AllCity is still based at 2239 E. Colfax Ave. In addition to the bar on the ground floor, the company has expanded into the two floors of office space above it.
Spano said he knew by 2019, when his Denver site took on the DNVR name, that it was something that could be replicated elsewhere. But large investors wanted more proof of concept before putting up funds, so a sportsbook ended up prompting the company’s first expansion, to Phoenix in 2021. That was the year Arizona legalized sports betting.
“DraftKings was going to do an ad deal if we launched there, so we figured that was our chance,” he said.
AllCity also had a sportsbook deal when it went live in Chicago in 2022. But Spano said the company expanded to Philadelphia in 2023 largely because it had built a relationship with Anthony Gargano, a media personality there, and Dallas — where AllCity launched this week — is located in a state that doesn’t allow sports betting.
Spano said AllCity doesn’t necessarily discuss sports betting on its shows that much, in part because, “I don’t think it’s a great play locally.”
“They’ll bet on their local teams, but that’s from a passion perspective,” he said of his audience. “They’re not asking for people to tell them how to bet on their teams.”
Spano told BusinessDen in 2020 that DNVR expected to do revenue of $1 million that year. He said this week that AllCity did eight figures in revenue last year, declining to be more specific.
DNVR has been “profitable for years,” and within the next month or two each of the company’s first four markets will be profitable on an individual basis, he said.
Direct and programmatic advertising accounts for about 65 percent of revenue, Spano said. The company has about 180 employees, about 70 percent on the editorial side.
Spano said AllCity expects to have 100 million views and listens this year on its audio and video feeds across its five sites. Dick’s Sporting Goods began stocking the company’s merchandise earlier this year at stores in the markets where AllCity operates.
The company’s pace of growth is picking up. After four straight years of launching in one new market annually, AllCity will do two next year, one in the first quarter and one in the fall, Spano said.
“The markets we launch in the next 24 months will be Tegna markets,” he said.
Tegna owns or operates television stations in about 50 markets, including KUSA/9News in Denver. In addition to investing in AllCity, the broadcaster has entered into a commercial agreement with the firm that involves content licensing, distribution and cross-promotional opportunities, including talent from the two companies appearing on shows produced by the other.
Brandon Spano inside DNVR Bar at 2239 E. Colfax Ave. in 2020. His company now operates audio-and-video-heavy sports news sites in five cities. (BusinessDen file)
DNVR is getting more siblings.
The Denver sports news site’s parent company AllCity Network launched operations in a fifth city this week, on the heels of a $12 million funding round led by broadcast company Tegna.
“I think we feel right now that we have more momentum than we ever had,” said AllCity CEO Brandon Spano. “But with capital comes growth expectations.”
Spano founded what became known as DNVR in 2015, after years as a host on Mile High Sports Radio. It began as a blog, then gradually added components. Podcasts started in 2016, and went daily in 2017, when subscriptions became required to read articles.
Merchandise and events ramped up and, in 2020, DNVR started operating out of a Little Pub Co. bar on Colfax near East High School. The pandemic dampened the vibe for a while, but the company started broadcasting video of its podcasts live on YouTube.
“Once sports came back, we just said, ‘Hey, this is the model now,’” Spano said.
Spano now considers the company something of a cross between a regional sports network and sports talk radio. The company has between six and 10 hours a day of live audio and video in each market, he said, parsing the latest game, the unexpected trade or the upcoming draft.
“You can listen to us all day. Any time something happens, we’re going live,” he said.
The $12 million investment round announced this month is the company’s second major capital raise in the past year. AllCity announced a previous $9.4 million round last November. That one was led by Mosaic, a venture capital fund established by former NBA player Andre Iguodala. Mosaic contributed additional funds in the latest round.
In total, AllCity has raised about $25 million since inception, Spano said.
A sign for DNVR Bar. (BusinessDen file)
While most of its investors are outside of Colorado, AllCity is still based at 2239 E. Colfax Ave. In addition to the bar on the ground floor, the company has expanded into the two floors of office space above it.
Spano said he knew by 2019, when his Denver site took on the DNVR name, that it was something that could be replicated elsewhere. But large investors wanted more proof of concept before putting up funds, so a sportsbook ended up prompting the company’s first expansion, to Phoenix in 2021. That was the year Arizona legalized sports betting.
“DraftKings was going to do an ad deal if we launched there, so we figured that was our chance,” he said.
AllCity also had a sportsbook deal when it went live in Chicago in 2022. But Spano said the company expanded to Philadelphia in 2023 largely because it had built a relationship with Anthony Gargano, a media personality there, and Dallas — where AllCity launched this week — is located in a state that doesn’t allow sports betting.
Spano said AllCity doesn’t necessarily discuss sports betting on its shows that much, in part because, “I don’t think it’s a great play locally.”
“They’ll bet on their local teams, but that’s from a passion perspective,” he said of his audience. “They’re not asking for people to tell them how to bet on their teams.”
Spano told BusinessDen in 2020 that DNVR expected to do revenue of $1 million that year. He said this week that AllCity did eight figures in revenue last year, declining to be more specific.
DNVR has been “profitable for years,” and within the next month or two each of the company’s first four markets will be profitable on an individual basis, he said.
Direct and programmatic advertising accounts for about 65 percent of revenue, Spano said. The company has about 180 employees, about 70 percent on the editorial side.
Spano said AllCity expects to have 100 million views and listens this year on its audio and video feeds across its five sites. Dick’s Sporting Goods began stocking the company’s merchandise earlier this year at stores in the markets where AllCity operates.
The company’s pace of growth is picking up. After four straight years of launching in one new market annually, AllCity will do two next year, one in the first quarter and one in the fall, Spano said.
“The markets we launch in the next 24 months will be Tegna markets,” he said.
Tegna owns or operates television stations in about 50 markets, including KUSA/9News in Denver. In addition to investing in AllCity, the broadcaster has entered into a commercial agreement with the firm that involves content licensing, distribution and cross-promotional opportunities, including talent from the two companies appearing on shows produced by the other.
