February 5 – Former England captain and renowned TV host Gary Lineker built a broadcasting career sitting in front of cameras with traditional media outlets, and now he is helping prove that footballers no longer need them.
Goalhanger, the production company co-founded by Lineker alongside Jack Davenport and Tony Pastor, has secured minority investment from The Chernin Group. Former Fox chief executive Peter Chernin will take a seat on Goalhanger’s board with the aim of helping scale what has quietly become one of sport’s most powerful independent media platforms.
Goalhanger’s flagship properties, The Rest is Football, The Rest is Politics, and The Rest is History, generated more than 750 million full-episode views and streams last year, alongside a paying membership base of 250,000.
Now it plans to expand aggressively into television, film, digital video, live events, and look for the big payday in the US market, with YouTube firmly in its sights.
Traditional broadcasters are facing increasing competition with audiences consuming sports and punditry in ways that they hadn’t anticipated, while former players are building nimble and cost-effective platforms, where they control the tone.
Chernin Group’s portfolio already has a heavy presence in the market, including Barstool Sports, The Athletic, Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine, the Premier Lacrosse League, and Classic Football Shirts. Goalhanger seamlessly slips into that ecosystem.
The partnership also accelerates Goalhanger’s push into premium video. Daily episodes of The Rest is Football will be distributed on Netflix during the upcoming World Cup, following earlier collaborations with DAZN at the Club World Cup. Licensing deals with rights holders have already brought LaLiga highlights and historic Premier League footage into the show.
In this new era of media players, ex-players no longer need or ask for permission. They have the audience already, and now they have the infrastructure. Footballers used to retire into the media. Now they are the driving force behind it.
Contact the writer of this story, Nick Webster, at [email protected]