Teall Capital's Dyehard Fan Supply Makes Third Acquisition: All Pro Championships

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Jan. 15, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Dyehard Fan Supply, an event and retail merchandise experience and e-commerce company formed and managed by Teall Capital, has acquired the assets and business of Louisville, Kentucky-based All Pro Championships, a sports merchandising company.  The purchase of All Pro marks Teall Capital's third acquisition in recent months as part of the formation of Dyehard.

Teall Capital, a private equity company based in Winston-Salem, NC; Atlanta, GA; and San Francisco, CA, created Dyehard Fan Supply in late 2017 with Team Retail Solutions as its first acquisition followed soon afterwards by the acquisition of Sports Entertainment Events Merchandising (SEE Merchandising).  With the three acquisitions and anticipated additional investments, Dyehard will offer an expansive national network of best-in-class merchandise capabilities that will provide the finest quality retail experience for fans and customers at sports, music and entertainment events.

Founded in 1978, All Pro offers turn-key event programs inclusive of retail merchandising, e-commerce and wholesale distribution.  The company has handled merchandising programs for many of America's most notable sporting events and organizations, including the 1984 summer Olympic games, NBA finals, World Series, Davis Cup tennis, Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, MLB All-Star Game and America's Cup, as well as professional football championships.  All Pro maintains a 16,000-square-foot office and distribution center in Louisville with approximately 20 full-time employees that service more than 2,000 local, regional and national accounts.

Teall Capital Chairman Ben C. Sutton, Jr., widely respected as one of the most accomplished entrepreneurs and business leaders in the sports and entertainment industry, said the acquisition of All Pro provides Dyehard greater depth to handle high-profile events as the company establishes a platform to dramatically improve the game and event day experience.

"Our first two Dyehard acquisitions—Team Retail Solutions and SEE Merchandising—gave us a breadth of experience through their history of working with almost every notable sports and entertainment venue in America," Sutton said. "With the All Pro acquisition, Dyehard takes another big step forward, adding an outstanding company with an incredible client list that includes nearly four decades of working with the highest profile sports events in America."

"Together, the Dyehard team offers vast knowledge and experience unrivaled in this space," Sutton added.  "All three of the Dyehard acquisitions in recent weeks—and frankly, the deals we anticipate closing in the coming months—represent the 'best of the best.' Teall Capital anticipates a continuing rapid growth track as these companies are integrated into a unified, highly competitive national platform that will offer an unsurpassed retail experience, quality production capability and, above all, outstanding customer service. "

Rex Hough, formerly an executive on Sutton's team at IMG College, serves as CEO of Dyehard Fan Supply.  "When Nick Tabler founded All Pro in the late 1970s, he truly pioneered the modern concept of temporary merchandising shops.  With a track record like All Pro's, Dyehard now has the ability to get the attention of sports event executives at the highest level," Hough said.  "All Pro brings the depth of experience to the table to support Teall's vision for rapid growth.  The alignment of companies we now have at Dyehard is a marriage made in Heaven for sporting events of all sizes and at any location."

"In short order, Teall's acquisition of All Pro has already provided substantial insights and logistical resources that have improved the customer experience, as well as a network to fuel rapid expansion of our footprint," Hough said. "In turn, All Pro brings its own highly collaborative work processes to Dyehard as we continue to roll out our collective services to sports teams, tournaments, championships, bowl games, concerts and festivals, races as well as musical and theatrical productions."

"We look forward to working with Ben Erps, an enormous talent who is president of All Pro, as well as the rest of his team," Hough added.  "In addition, All Pro's expansive field of experienced contractors who work at events across America will be asked to become part of the Dyehard team, allowing for rapid scale-up of service to improve the experience for fans and manage merchandising at large events, as well as creating a more robust e-commerce platform."

During the latter part of 2017, Teall announced the acquisition of millennial-centered agency Riddle & Bloom, a specialized "Ideas and Access" agency that helps its clients market to the growing demographic of Next Generation consumers, and Sunshine Beverages, a "better-for-you" energy beverage. Earlier last year, Teall announced the acquisition of a significant interest in Alabama-based Tailgate Guys, which provides turnkey hospitality packages to fans. Since Teall invested in Tailgate Guys, that company has experienced meteoric growth, nearly quadrupling in size and on track to more than double in size again by fall 2018.

Sutton founded ISP Sports in Winston-Salem in 1992. After rapidly becoming the national market leader in collegiate sports marketing, broadcast, publishing, sponsorship services, ticketing and stadium seating, ISP Sports merged into IMG College in 2010. Sutton, who became chairman and CEO of IMG College in 2010 and had served as chairman emeritus since September 2015, left IMG College late last year to focus his efforts on Teall Capital. 

About Ben C. Sutton, Jr.

The founder of ISP Sports and former Chairman and President of IMG College, Ben Sutton was recently inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame and is a member of the boards of the United States Olympic Committee and the Ronald Reagan Presidential, National Football and Naismith Basketball foundations. He also serves as a director with the Wyndham PGA Championship, the Falk School of Sports Management at Syracuse University and at his alma mater Wake Forest University. Sutton has received numerous awards including the Wake Forest University Distinguished Alumni Award, The Order of the Long Leaf Pine (highest civilian honor in North Carolina), induction into the NACMA hall of fame, as well as being named one of the top or most powerful sports executives in America by numerous publications.

About Teall Capital

Teall Capital is a privately-held set of investments in innovative, high growth potential lifestyle brands and services. The company's leadership has extensive experience in sports, media, marketing and entertainment, and the group provides its operating companies deep expertise in a number of disciplines: corporate strategy, organizational management, culture and training, financial strategy, employee operations, recruiting and expert legal diligence.

Teall Capital is led by Ben C. Sutton, Jr. and an executive management team that built and expanded four national market-leading businesses in the college sports space: IMG College Media, IMG Seating, IMG College Licensing and IMG Ticketing. Teall invests in complementary organizations that can strategically work together to realize greater value, sharing in expertise, thought leadership and networks.

For more information, please visit TeallCapital.com.

About Dyehard Fan Supply

Dyehard Fan Supply is an event and retail merchandise marketing and e-commerce company.  A customer-service focused company that operates nationwide and in some international locations, Dyehard offers an expansive network of best-in-class merchandise companies that produce the finest quality merchandise for sporting events including college and professional sports teams, tennis and golf tournaments, bowl games, music concerts and festivals, races and Broadway musicals.

For more information, please visit dyehardfansupply.com. 

News media contact
Steve Bumgarner
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[email protected]

SOURCE Teall Capital

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