Welcome to Sportico’s Transactions wire, a weekly rundown of personnel, partnerships, purchases and products across the sports business industry.
Personnel
Big 12 Bulks Up With 7 New Hires
On the week of National Signing Day, the Big 12 has landed seven new recruits.They are: Katie Ristow, senior director, brand; Keena Lynch, senior director, content; Lea Banks, assistant director, brand & creative; Madison Scholl, coordinator, digital content; Ben Anderson, assistant director, technology & video services; Brittney Jackson, assistant director, compliance; and Tori Williams, staff accountant.
Agency Expands Into Baseball With New Hire
Milk & Honey Music + Sports + Ventures has launched Milk & Honey Baseball, which will be run by industry vet Kyle Thousand and based in Nashville, Tenn. Thousand most recently worked at Roc Nation Sports as its managing director of baseball, overseeing the division and representing some of the game’s best players, including CC Sabathia, Robinson Cano, Yoenis Cespedes, Frankie Montas, Eddie Rosario, Erick Aybar, Miguel Sano and Shelby Miller. Prior to that, Thousand worked at Excel Sports Management as an MLBPA certified agent and director in the baseball division. A draftee of the Toronto Blue Jays, Thousand picked up a law degree from the Creighton University after he retired from playing.
NWSL Adds Chief People and Culture Officer
The National Women’s Soccer League has hired Lauren Lopez as chief people and culture officer. In the newly formed role, Lopez will identify, develop and implement human resource strategies, initiatives and best practices across the league and clubs. She will also be responsible for establishing the league’s organizational design, overseeing and enhancing player education, engagement and experience, and crafting and managing the league’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Lopez joins the NWSL from The New York Times, where she served as the company’s first senior vice president of talent management. Lopez earlier served in a variety of roles with the National Basketball Association.
Uplift Labs Adds First MLB Player on Cap Table
Uplift Labs, whose AI-powered technology delivers mobile movement tracking and 3D analysis to enhance performance and health using only smartphones, announced that former professional baseball pitcher Eric Gagne is joining the company as an investor. Gagne played 10 MLB seasons, most notably for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He is the first MLB player to join Uplift’s cap table. Roughly a third of MLB teams, the NBA, GOLFTEC and numerous premier sports academies and universities are currently using Uplift’s technology. Gagne joins the company’s existing all-star roster of investors that includes Seth Curry, Marc Gasol, Renee Montogmery, Andrew Luck, David DeCastro, DEEPCORE, LAUNCH Fund and The Syndicate, led by Jason Calacanis, Stadia Ventures and Oregon Sports Angels.
Partnerships
WrestlePro Locks Up With Premier Streaming Network
WrestlePro, the New Jersey-based independent professional wrestling circuit and its affiliate promotion, WrestlePro Alaska, have entered an exclusive mulityear agreement to stream their catalogs of previous shows and future live events on Premier Streaming Network (PSN). Along with almost 100 hours of content streaming on PSN, WrestlePro will be airing their Violencetine’s Day event, live on PSN, on Feb. 11, 2023. WrestlePro Alaska began running events in 2019 and has seen some of the biggest names in professional wrestling appear at its shows, including World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Hall of Famers Bret “The Hitman” Hart and Mick Foley.
