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Apr 29, 2023

GoVision returns to North Texas roots as founder reacquires LED display company

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A North Texas business that has provided large video displays for presidents, popes, concerts and major sporting events is back in local hands.

Argyle-based GoVision is being acquired by a group led by founder Chris Curtis.

In 2016, Learfield Sports, a collegiate sports marketing company, acquired GoVision and folded it into its ANC Events group. However, Learfield has had difficulty recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and has lost nearly $2 billion in the past few years, according to reports.

When Curtis was offered a chance to tune back into the LED video display business that he had founded, he jumped at the chance.

"It's a huge opportunity to take what we’ve always done and what's been built on over time," said Curtis.

Curtis partnered with ANC Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Faciane to purchase the ANC Events division, along with some financial backers who he declined to name. No purchase price on the transaction was released. Faciane and Curtis will rebrand the company once again as GoVision. Faciane had joined GoVision in 2014.

"Kevin's been running this business unit this whole time, so he's got expertise built up that goes with it," Curtis said. "He and I are 50/50 partners on this deal and really looking forward to moving it forward," Curtis said.

Curtis founded GoVision in 2002 and evolved the company into a full-service provider of large-scale LED video displays and related services. Its technologies and services are currently being used at about 1,000 major sporting events, concerts, festivals and corporate events around the world.

Since 2002, the company has provided large video screens for more than 25,000 events, including the 2015 Papal visit, multiple NCAA Final Fours, Super Bowls, Ryder Cups, PGA tournaments and professional All-Star Games. GoVision is the official screen provider for 25+ Live Nation venues, Bristol Motor Speedway, The LPGA Tour and several universities.

"We’re very proud of our history," said Curtis.

In its latest incarnation, GoVision will operate as a standalone entity, but will maintain a relationship with ANC, with both parties jointly working on projects and events. GoVision will also provide ANC with services previously handled by ANC's Texas division, including accounting, human resources, warehousing, event project management, design and engineering support.

Under Faciane's leadership since 2018, ANC Events has continued to be a leader in providing LED screens to major events and maintained key relationships with the NCAA, ESPN, PGA and LPGA, Live Nation Entertainment and the Chickasaw Nation, Curtis said. The company has also expanded its fixed-installation LED display business with its focus on live performance venues, casinos and gaming destinations and motorsports facilities.

"It has been a pleasure and honor leading ANC Events for the last four years, but getting the chance to partner up once again with Chris and return GoVision to its cultural roots was a great opportunity," said Faciane, who will be CEO & partner at GoVision.

For Curtis, a key change in the business since he sold GoVision in 2016 is the growth of competition.

"Because the technology has gotten cheaper and better, there are more people in the business," he said. "There's just more competition out there."

Curtis believes GoVison has an advantage because of the company's experienced management team.

"What a lot of competitors don't realize is that what we do tends to be somebody's most important thing they are doing," said Curtis. "You have a small festival, local volunteers running and this event is the most important thing they’re going to do this year. And so we have to treat it that way all the way up to the presidential inauguration."

Those big screens are always the focal point of a big event, said Curtis, which makes it a challenge to consistently pull off an event successfully.

"You’re always a focal point, which makes it fun and exciting," he said. "So with us, the experience we have here, it really pays off."

GoVision is about to enter its busy month, with the AT&T Byron Nelson in McKinney followed by the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth.

"We’re excited that we play on the national stage, yet here we are in our own backyard," said Curtis.

Along with Curtis and Faciane, GoVision's management team includes CFO Kristy Johnston, senior vice president of operations Jeff Williams and vice president of people & administration Steven Myrick. Several key players will continue to lead their respective divisions, including Brett Amman, senior vice president of golf, Brad Merriman, vice president of business development & projects and Patrick Carlile, vice president of sports & entertainment.

Bob Francis is business editor for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at [email protected]. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

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by Bob Francis, Fort Worth Report May 8, 2023

Robert Francis is a Fort Worth native and journalist who has extensive experience covering business and technology locally,nationally and internationally. He is also a former president of the local Society... More by Bob Francis