EXCLUSIVE: TBA Group buys majority stake in Second Sunday

Cameron Coghlan didn’t see this one coming.

“Well, it wasn’t necessarily on our bingo card,” said the Second Sunday co-founder, whose Australian creative production and events agency has sold a majority stake to TBA Group, a global live events and brand experience agency.

The deal is TBA’s first local acquisition, and it lands just before the group’s first anniversary in Australia. It brings Second Sunday’s team, clients, and live-music expertise to TBA Australia. Coghlan and fellow founder Brendan Maher become shareholders in the Australian business. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Second Sunday’s credits include the ARIA Awards, AACTA Awards, SailGP and X Games Sydney. It also runs its own concert series, Night at The Barracks in Sydney and Night at The Parkland in Brisbane.

A mutual client and a very easy conversation

TBA Group founder and CEO Guy Horner said a mutual client introduced the two businesses.

“Cam and I were introduced by a mutual client. Pretty quickly, we realised we were all on the same page on quality, creativity, and aspiration, and where we thought live events were going, and where the agencies could go,” Horner said.

“It was an unexpected, but easy, certainly from my point of view, very easy conversation of realising that there could be something really exciting combining all of the expertise and brilliant domestic work that Second Sunday have done and the business that Cam and Brendan have built up with TBA’s global presence as a leading global brand experience in live events business.

“We realised that together, we could be formidable in a market where Australia will have so much sport and entertainment coming your way over the next decade, and that’s where we specialise and excel, so we thought putting those skills together would be really exciting for our clients.”

How TBA Group landed in Australia

TBA Group launched in Australia in November 2025, opening a Sydney office with teams in Melbourne and Brisbane. Sydney became the group’s third international hub after London and Los Angeles. TBA timed the launch for the 2027 Men’s Rugby World Cup, the 2029 Women’s Rugby World Cup and Brisbane 2032.

The independent, founder-led group also has an office in Birmingham. Its brands include Top Banana, Velocity Experience and VHE Worldwide. This year it ran hospitality at the Milan 2026 Winter Olympics, plus hospitality and stadium fan experiences across nine FIFA World Cup sites.

TBA already works with rights holders including the NFL, Rugby World Cup, Formula One, MotoGP and the Olympics. Horner said many of those events are already in the market or on their way. He said Second Sunday brings the local production and delivery experience to run them at scale.

“We believe combining the two is super helpful for our clients, whether it’s a big fan experience, a concert, a conference, an awards show, or a showcase,” Horner said.

The work goes beyond the main event to sponsor activations, hospitality and fan experiences. The deal also gives TBA an established local concert business.

Second Sunday steps onto a global stage

For Second Sunday, the deal opens up TBA Group’s international network and specialist capabilities.

“We just align really well on values, and our passion for the events industry. We picked up that alignment straight away from Guy and his local team here,” Coghlan said.

“The move will really help our growth and opportunities, and with our clients, it gives us greater reach, and the creative aspects TBA brings help us grow locally.”

He said the founders had always kept one eye on the wider world.

“I think for us, though, it was about strengthening and growing our business, having the opportunities, and having travelled so much internationally before starting Second Sunday, we had a good feel for the industry.

“This accelerates that growth for us, and I think when you see the type of projects that TBA do globally, that’s the work we aspire to do and what we want to be involved with, and so those opportunities together… you can’t beat that, so I think it’s forming a really strong team.”

Meet the A-Team

Coghlan calls his Second Sunday crew the A-Team.

“We have such a strong culture within our team: pride in our work, wanting to go the extra mile, and I keep telling the team we’re lucky to have you guys,” he said.

He saw the same thing in the TBA team the first time they met. Both teams had worked on similar events and wanted audiences to feel what they love about live events.

Coghlan accepts that the teams in the US, UK and Australia won’t always do things the same way.

“We all know we party differently, and we work differently, and support our teams differently,” he said.

The goal stays the same for every event, though. Coghlan wants people to love it, tell their friends about it and come back. That repeat crowd helps grow events for rights holders and for Second Sunday’s own concert series.

The experience comes first

Horner said the timing works in the industry’s favour.

“I think the whole IRL (In Real Life) space and live experiences are huge and on fire, and we’re lucky to be in that industry,” he said.

He added that the order of the marketing playbook has flipped: “Perhaps 10 to 15 years ago, the events were a bit of an afterthought, after an advertising campaign or something else, whereas now it’s starting with the experience, and then with the creative economy being able to amplify that out, it’s really turning it on its head.”

The events themselves have grown too, he said: “The events are so much bigger, the whole day around, not just the field of play and the bowl, or not just the racetrack, it’s the whole festival atmosphere, the whole engagement around it, the Australian Open’s done a brilliant job of that, making it much bigger than just the game, or the match, or the race.”

With the Rugby World Cup and the Olympics coming up, the bingo card is filling up fast.