Director Jeffrey Bell and producer Mike Dieffenbach have announced that Gravitas Ventures, based in El Segundo, Calif., will distribute the documentary Sons of Ben across all North American digital and TVOD platforms.

The launch, scheduled for Friday, coincides with the start of the 2016 AT&T Major League Soccer All-Star week.

The digital platforms include Amazon, Google Play, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, and Xbox in the United States and Canada. And the cable platforms include Dish, Cox, Charter, DirecTV, and Verizon, among others.

A candid, surprising, and crowd-pleasing tale, Sons of Ben tells the story of how a rag-tag, but dedicated small group of Philly-area soccer fans managed to land the city an MLS franchise by creating a supporters group before the team ever existed.

Dubbed the Sons of Ben, named after Philadelphia’s favorite son Ben Franklin, the group was founded in 2007 with the goal of convincing MLS to place an expansion franchise, which eventually became the Philadelphia Union, in the country’s fourth-largest media market.

The group had a modest goal, to recruit 100 members in their first year. Not only did it reach 1,500 members in less time than that, but it captured the attention of national media and fans from around the league, and even the MLS itself.

The story of how this rough-around-the-edges group of superfans managed to achieve its goal in a scant 13 months is one of the most unbelievable off-the-field stories in sports. The Sons of Ben had to overcome a global economic meltdown, a media establishment with a knee-jerk anti-soccer mindset, and even basic common sense to achieve a first in sports.

“It was the Philadelphia sports fans’ mindset that got this done and first attracted us to the project,” said Bell, a Delaware Valley native. “We’re so happy to be getting this release from Gravitas. Worldwide, soccer is the biggest sport there is, and we’re looking forward to bringing Sons of Ben to audiences around the country and around the world.”

The film was invited to festivals in Berlin, Tokyo, Barcelona, Rio de Janeiro, and Bilbao before it was even completed, and won the Gran Prix at the Tokyo International Football Film Festival.