On March 24, 2026, Ascent Sports Group (“Ascent”), a company focused on improving connection, engagement, and access across youth and amateur sports, completed its acquisition of LiveBarn, the Montreal-based provider of live and on-demand video and analytics for ice hockey and other sports across North America. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Ares Credit funds will remain an investor in LiveBarn following the transaction. Raymond James acted as financial advisor to LiveBarn, and Evercore acted as financial advisor to Ascent and GTCR.
LiveBarn provides automated livestreaming and video-on-demand services from thousands of sports facilities across the United States and Canada, enabling athletes, families, coaches, and fans to watch games and share highlights from anywhere. The platform primarily serves the youth ice hockey community while also supporting a range of other youth and amateur sports. Ascent Sports Group was established in January 2026 as a Leaders Strategy partnership between Chicago-based private equity firm GTCR and CEO Gary Swidler, a consumer technology executive and former chief financial officer and president of Match Group. The acquisition of LiveBarn represents Ascent's first investment and a foundational step in its strategy to build a more connected and accessible digital experience across the youth and amateur sports ecosystem. Ascent plans to deepen LiveBarn's capabilities in hockey while selectively expanding into additional sports, with continued investment in product quality, reliability, and accessibility. In connection with the closing, longtime LiveBarn executive and former chief operating officer Ray Giroux assumed the role of chief executive officer, succeeding founder Farrel Miller, who transitioned to the Ascent Sports Group board of directors.
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP acted as lead counsel to LiveBarn, with a team that included Justin Vineberg, Vanessa Pendenza, Sergio Rodriguez Barajas, Véronique Chantigny, Michael Cardinal, and Hannah Kirstein (M&A/Corporate); Elisa Kearney and William Rooney (Competition); Dan Wolfensohn (Finance); Louis-Martin O'Neill (Litigation); Alexander Max Jarvie and Gabriel Boulianne Gobeil (IP/Privacy); Stephanie Pasternyk and Hélène Bussières (Employment); and Marie-Emmanuelle Vaillancourt, Marc André Gaudreau Duval, Jennifer Lee, and Zaira Cortes Rivero (Tax).
Goodmans LLP acted as Canadian counsel to Ascent with a team that included Michael Partridge and Roy Friedman. Kirkland & Ellis LLP acted as U.S. counsel to Ascent.