Welcome to Sportico’s transactions wire, a weekly rundown of personnel, partnerships, purchases and products across the sports business industry.
PERSONNEL
NFL Hires Newly Created Position of Vice President, Head of Flag Football
Stephanie Kwok has been named vice president, head of flag football, the NFL announced. Kwok will serve as the NFL lead on the cross-organizational priority of flag football. Kwok will be responsible for driving the NFL’s role in the continued growth of domestic and international participation of flag football, while engaging new fans and partners in the sport. Kwok will work in close partnership with NFL executive vice president, club business, events and international Peter O’Reilly, as well as key stakeholders across the league and clubs. An avid flag player in multiple leagues in the New York City area, Kwok also co-founded Pickup Football, a company that ran competitive flag tournaments for adults across the tri-state area prior to the onset of the COVID pandemic. Kwok comes to the NFL from Reforge, where she was a partner at one of the leading career development platforms and marketplaces for tech industry professionals.
John Macrina Named NCAA Vice President, Chief Technology Officer
The NCAA has named John Macrina as vice president and chief technology officer. With more than 25 years of experience, Macrina most recently served as senior vice president and global head of enterprise technology at TelevisaUnivision, where he was responsible for creating and delivering enterprise technology and data strategies. Macrina also served a role in TelevisaUnivision’s digital transformation, enabling technology for the digitization of revenue, corporate and broadcast/production functions. Before his tenure at TelevisaUnivision, Macrina held leadership positions at NBCUniversal and Bristol Myers Squibb.
Excel Sports Management Hires Senior Vice-President of Data and Analytics
Excel Sports Management, a sports agency, has hired Michael Bernstein as senior vice president of data and analytics. As an extension of the agency’s brand marketing division, Excel Analytics leverages proprietary algorithms and data to help clients understand, contextualize and realize the full business impact of their sports investments. Excel Analytics currently works with clients including Under Armour Goodyear, 2K, Blue Triton Brands and others. Bernstein previously served as vice president, insights and analytics at LA28, the 2028 Olympic organizing committee. Prior to LA28, he was vice president of global insights at Wasserman. He joins Excel with more than 20 years of experience leading teams that deliver actionable insights around partnership portfolios, sponsorship measurement and strategy.
Atlanta Falcons Add Four Limited Partners to Team’s Ownership Group
Arthur M. Blank, Atlanta Falcons owner and chairman, announced the addition of four new limited partners to the organization’s ownership group following approval from the NFL’s full ownership at league meetings in Nashville. The new limited partners, pending final closing of the agreements, are Rosalind Brewer, Dominique Dawes, Will Packer and Rashaun Williams. They join the current group of limited partners that includes Brian Barker, Ron Canakaris, Warrick Dunn, Doug Hertz, Alan Kestenbaum, Edward Mendel and Derek Smith. Brewer, Dawes, Packer and Williams have made their marks in corporate business, athletics, entertainment and finance. Each brings business acumen, leadership and perspectives that will enhance the ownership group in a variety of ways. Brewer has served as an associate director on the board of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation since 2016 and will continue in that role.
PARTNERSHIPS
Populous Partners With Event Site and Venue Planning Software Company OnePlan
Populous, a sports and entertainment venue and event design practice, has invested in OnePlan, an event site and venue planning software company. OnePlan’s GIS mapping collaboration platform, which simplifies the planning of live events, is used by over 50,000 events in 110 countries. Its digital twin software VenueTwin enables teams to visualize, plan operations and sell spaces in a virtual version of any venue. The company’s web platform accommodates the event planning of venues of any size, indoors or outdoors, integrating existing architectural CAD and floor plan files. The partnership with OnePlan will enable Populous to enhance its live event services and integrate their VenueTwin platform with its own digital offerings.
Texas State, UFCU Enter Into Naming Rights, Multi-Tiered Partnership
Texas State University and UFCU (University Federal Credit Union) have signed a multi-tiered agreement that will rebrand the football stadium at Texas State as UFCU Stadium and expand UFCU’s 11-year relationship with the school. The naming rights deal—a 15-year, $23 million partnership—is the largest corporate sponsorship in the Sun Belt Conference for naming rights at a football stadium and one of the largest for a college football stadium in the state of Texas. UFCU also will become the official credit union at Texas State. It will open a full-service branch within Texas State’s Lyndon B. Johnson Student Center in the fall of 2024 and continue to offer a wide range of banking and financial counseling services to Texas State students, faculty and staff. The national search for a naming rights and campus partner at Texas State was led by Independent Sports & Entertainment (ISE), a sales representation, management, sales, consulting and marketing agency. Learfield, Texas State’s multimedia rights partner, worked with the university and ISE on this agreement.
PIF, WTA Announce Multiyear Partnership
The Public Investment Fund (PIF) and the WTA on Monday unveiled a multiyear partnership that will support women’s professional tennis and inspire people around the world to take up the game. The partnership will also enhance and develop initiatives that support players at all levels. As a Global Partner of the WTA, PIF will become the first-ever naming partner of the WTA Rankings, the highest official rankings for women’s professional tennis players. PIF has also partnered with the ATP, making it the only global partner across both the WTA and ATP Tours. The new partnership between the WTA and PIF follows the recent announcement that the season-ending WTA Finals will be hosted in Riyadh for the next three years, starting in 2024.
PURCHASES
Gerard Piqué’s Kings League Raises €60 Million for 7-a-Side Soccer Circuit
Kings League, a seven-a-side soccer competition led by Gerard Piqué that brings together entertainment and sports, recently announced a €60 million investment round. The deal was led by Left Lane Capital, a global venture capital firm, and Fillip, a global sports and entertainment focused holding company. Cassius, an early stage Atlanta-based fund, was the only prior investor in the company. Kings League Founder Gerard Piqué won the FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championship, and four UEFA Champions League titles. The league currently has more than 13 million followers on its digital platforms, more than 80 million hours of content watched and over 82 million views on TikTok. Its official Twitch channel is the second-most watched Spanish-language channel in the world.
RWS Global Acquires Great Big Events
RWS Global has acquired Great Big Events (GBE), a sports event and production company known for its work on some of the world’s biggest sporting events. Past credits include more than 100 world championships, World Cups, Olympic, Paralympic, Commonwealth and multi-sport Games. As a result of this transaction, the company is launching RWS Global Sports, a new division of RWS Global that will provide a range of offerings, including venue design, entertainment, sports production, merchandise and more. The acquisition follows strategic investment from RWS Global’s first institutional investor, Bluestone Equity Partners, a private equity firm with diverse sports and entertainment assets.
PRODUCTS
Giant Trading Card Honoring Satchel Paige to Be unveiled at Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum announces a collaboration with Fox Sports and Fanatics Collectibles ahead of this summer’s special presentation of MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues. The collaboration features an unveiling of a giant trading card, honoring Negro Leagues legend Satchel Paige, at the museum. This card will be the first of four baseball legends featured during a promotional tour at select MLB games and tourist destinations throughout May and June, and will also include Josh Gibson, Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays. The giant trading cards, featuring the Negro Leagues greats, stand 24×16 ft and weigh in at 8,000 lbs. They were sketched by former MLB player Micah Johnson using only his fingers, charcoal sticks, an eraser and a paint roller.