Eva Longoria on how sports fuels Hyphenate Media Group
Eva Longoria on how sports is fueling her Hyphenate Media Group expansion: the Roku series NFL Hometown Eats, produced with Skydance Sports, pairs celebrity superfans with NFL players for city food tours. Longoria, a Cowboys die-hard and soccer team owner, calls sports entertainment's last frontier.
Key Takeaways
- Hyphenate Media Group, founded in 2023 by Eva Longoria and Cris Abrego, recently launched the Roku series NFL Hometown Eats.
- The show pairs celebrity fans with NFL stars exploring local food scenes, starting with Longoria and DeMarcus Ware in Texas.
- Longoria also has ownership stakes in Club Necaxa, Angel City FC, and Columbia club La Equidad, linking sports ownership to screen projects.
- She hopes the food-and-fandom format could expand to NBA, MLB, NHL, and other leagues.
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Why is Eva Longoria leaning into sports content?
According to Variety, Longoria is shifting from fútbol to football as she widens her business portfolio. Hyphenate Media Group—the company she founded in 2023 with media executive and TV Academy chair Cris Abrego—has made professional sports a recurring creative lane.
She is already an owner in Mexican club Club Necaxa, the basis for Hyphenate's FX series Nexaca. She is also an investor in Angel City FC and among partners who last year acquired Columbia professional soccer team La Equidad. Those ties, she says, create organic paths into sports storytelling.
"It's so funny because every sports show we've done has been this organic connection that I have," Longoria told Variety. She called sports "the last frontier of entertainment"—dramatic, emotional, and full of ups and downs for fans.
What is NFL Hometown Eats on Roku?
NFL Hometown Eats is produced with Skydance Sports, Roku, and Alfred Street Industries. Longoria says she was approached because of her die-hard Dallas Cowboys fandom, and that Roku's NFL partnership opened a food-focused path into the league.
She is no stranger to food travel TV, having starred in and produced CNN Original Series including Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico, Searching for Spain, and Searching for France. For the new series, she framed food and football as a "perfect marriage" and a different way into sport through community eateries, trucks, and vendors tied to fan bases.
Season one opens with Longoria and former Cowboys defensive end DeMarcus Ware on Texas cuisine; Seahawks fan Joel McHale with cornerback Devon Witherspoon; and Rebel Wilson with Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Davante Adams sampling L.A. dishes.
Could NFL Hometown Eats expand beyond football?
Longoria said she hopes the series starts a franchise that could reach other sports. She floated ideas such as "NBA Eats," "MLB Eats," or "NHL Eats," citing the depth of teams and celebrity fans as an "endless well" of episodes.
Roku Originals head Brian Tannenbaum said in a statement that fandom and sports are key pillars of Roku's original strategy, calling the series a fresh mix of those passions and praising Longoria and Hyphenate as partners. Executive producers include Longoria, Abrego, Rachelle Mendez, and Ian Samplin for Hyphenate, plus teams from Alfred Street Industries and Skydance Sports.
Longoria described her dual role as entrepreneur and entertainer as her "most natural habitat," noting that projects like Nexaca can boost team exposure, sponsorships, stadiums, and fans—a win for both business and screen work.