Welcome to Sportico’s Transactions wire, a weekly rundown of personnel, partnerships and purchases across the sports business industry
Personnel
Excel Hires Four, Including First Head of Content
Excel Sports Management has added Ryan Holcomb as the agency’s first-ever head of content. Holcomb will join the agency’s media division to drive the creation and development of original content and programming. Holcomb joins Excel from the World Surf League, where he served as the executive vice president of WSL Studios and led the league’s content division developing programming, selling concepts and running branded content efforts. Nick Baratta also joins in a content creation role, as senior graphic designer, after coming over from FanDuel. On the basketball side, Nik Jayaram comes onboard as director basketball partnerships, sales after working at FaZe, and Matt Kelly steps in as agent, coaches and executives, basketball. He’d previously been an attorney at Kelly Law Group.
Legends Appoints VP of Project Development
Legends has appointed John Nicholson as VP of project development, Legends International. Nicholson has more than 30 years of experience in project development and management, and he’ll be based in Legends’ London office, initially focused on building upon the company’s Global Planning business in the area. Prior to joining Legends International, Nicholson was a director of operations at Mace North America, an international construction and consultancy company. Nicholson’s experience includes The London 2012 Summer Olympics where he managed development of the Athletes Village, Aquatic Centre and International Broadcast Centre. He received an OBE for his contributions to the Games. In addition, he served as project manager for the stadium, hotel and residential development for Chelsea FC at Chelsea Village, London.
Miami Grand Prix Names President
The Formula One Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix has named Tyler Epp president. Epp previously served as the global event’s senior vice president and chief operating officer and has more than 20 years of senior management experience spanning across multiple sports. Richard Cregan, a driving force in the inaugural event, will move into a consultancy role. Epp joined South Florida Motorsports after eight successful years at the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s also done stints as the general manager of Hall of Fame Racing, a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team and Sports Management Network, a motorsports representation and consulting firm. He also spent five years with Chip Ganassi Racing, serving as the director of team operations and business development.
Partnerships
INFLCR Expands Into New NIL Marketplaces With New Partnerships
A new deal between INFLCR and several marketplace solutions provides college athletes with access to hundreds of brands and thousands of individual NIL opportunities in a centralized location. MarketPryce, Nocap Sports, Mogl and Embassy will utilize INFLCR’s Global Exchange allowing them to offer deals directly in the INFLCR app. Similar to INFLCR’s Local Exchange, where local businesses communicate with athletes from specific institutions and offer NIL opportunities, the marketplaces will bring national brands to athletes through their multiple sales teams with unique expertise and services. Each of the new partners will utilize Bulletins to communicate direct offers and provide value to college athletes within the INFLCR app. The feature allows athletes to examine and accept offers, review and sign a contract, and receive payments.
Big Ten Starts Partnership Division, Hires Leader
The Big Ten Conference and Big Ten Network have created Big Ten Corporate Partnerships, a dedicated team to lead the conference’s league-level corporate sponsorships and partner activations. Industry veteran Tyler Kupper has been tapped to lead the new business as vice president of sponsorships. BTCP will offer strategic corporate sponsorships, partnership activations, television and digital media inventory and creative advertising opportunities associated with league-level events and VIP fan experiences during the conference championships and tournaments. Kupper previously served as chief revenue officer for Weatherman Umbrella and director of sports marketing for USA Today Sports Media Group. BTCP assets will include impactful linear and digital media inventory, on-site promotional activation, in-venue signage, official designations, and corporate hospitality.
