Welcome to Sportico’s Transactions wire, a weekly rundown of personnel and deals moving across the sports business industry.
Chris Paul Invests in Advocacy Marketing Software Firm Greenfly
Chris Paul is investing and joining the athlete-founded, digital media platform Greenfly as a strategic partner. Paul will also serve as a strategic partner to support Greenfly’s commercial expansion to enable collaboration between organizations, their athletes, ambassadors and sponsors through sourcing, creation and automated distribution of short-form photos and videos created for social media.
Motorsports Games Names Moore to Board
Motorsport Games Inc., a racing game developer, publisher and esports ecosystem provider of official motorsport racing series, has added Peter Moore to its board of directors. Formerly the CEO of Liverpool F.C., Moore currently serves as the senior VP and general manager of Sports and Live Entertainment at Unity Technologies.
Innovative Partnerships Adds Cav’s Komoroski to Board
Innovative Partnerships Group, which develops partnerships between professional sports teams, real estate properties and global brands, announced that Len Komoroski, CEO of the Rock Entertainment Group, Cleveland Cavaliers and Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, has joined its board of directors. Komoroski also oversees the American Hockey League’s Cleveland Monsters, NBA G League’s Canton Charge and NBA 2K esports team Cavs Legion Gaming Club.
MLB Names Karin Timpone EVP, Chief Marketing Officer
Major League Baseball announced that Karin Timpone has been named executive vice president, chief marketing officer. Reporting to MLB chief operations and strategy officer Chris Marinak, Timpone will lead the league’s global marketing efforts and collaborate with executives across all revenue, product and operations units as well as the 30 MLB Clubs. Timpone will also oversee the MLB events and design services departments.
Atlanta Hawks Name Browning CFO
The Atlanta Hawks and State Farm Arena announced that Joel Browning has been hired as executive vice president and CFO. In his new role, Browning will oversee the accounting, finance, information technology and analytics departments of both the Hawks and State Farm Arena while playing a leadership role in the strategic development of future large-scale projects. He will report directly to CEO Steve Koonin.
WME Sports Hires Januszewski to Run Global Property Solutions
WME Sports announced the hire of sports executive Joe Januszewski as SVP and Division Head to lead its full-service global property solutions team, which delivers naming rights deals, premium hospitality offerings and suite sales strategies for sports teams, leagues and organizations.
ONE Championship Hires WWE’s Michael Mansury as Executive Producer
ONE Championship announced the hiring of former longtime WWE executive Michael Mansury as executive producer, where he will manage all aspects of ONE Championship’s live programming. Mansury will be oversee the live production team, manage the broadcast presentation, and work with on-air talent.
Endeavor Appoints Jacqueline Reses to Board of Directors
Endeavor Group Holdings, Inc. announced the appointment of Jacqueline Reses to its board of directors. Reses currently serves as CEO of Post House Capital LLC, a private investment firm focused on consumer and financial technology. She previously served as executive chair of Square Financial Services LLC and Capital Lead at Square, Inc., a publicly traded financial services company.
Danita Johnson Joins Buzzer Board of Directors
Buzzer announced the election of Danita Johnson to its Board of Directors, joining Buzzer founder and CEO Bo Han along with Sapphire Sport partner Michael Spirito. Johnson currently serves as president of business operations for D.C. United of Major League Soccer and previously worked as president and COO of the Los Angeles Sparks.
NFL Names Paul Ballew as Chief Data and Analytics Officer
Paul Ballew has been named chief data and analytics officer of the NFL, effective immediately. In this role, which reports to Christopher Halpin, the NFL’s chief strategy and growth officer, Ballew will oversee the league’s data and analytics operations. Ballew joins the league from Loblaw Companies, where he was chief data and analytics officer, and prior to that he oversaw data and analytics efforts at Ford Motor Company from 2015-19.
Parleh Media Acquires Homestand Sports
The Parleh Media Group announced the acquisition of Toronto’s Homestand Sports—a live event and media production company and the creators of Puck Talks, Hoop Talks, Footy Talks and Pitch Talks. Homestand Sports founder and President Kevin Kennedy has been named president and executive producer of Parleh Media Group.
GSE Acquires DEC Football Agency
GSE Worldwide, an entertainment marketing, management and talent representation firm, announced it has acquired South Florida-based DEC Football. DEC represents 47 current players, including NFLers Demarcus Lawrence, Xavier Howard, Vonn Bell and Olivier Vernon. The acquisition combines DEC’s on-the-field representation capabilities with GSE’s off-the-field marketing operations to offer players full-service representation.