Welcome to Sportico’s transactions wire, a weekly rundown of personnel, partnerships and products across the sports business industry.
PERSONNEL
Novak Djokovic Joins With Jonesworks Marketing Agency
Jonesworks, an Emmy-award-winning marketing, branding and communications agency, announced their exclusive representation of tennis icon Novak Djokovic. With 24 Grand Slam titles and his place at world No. 1 for 13 years, Djokovic has piled up victories in a record-setting career. He has also promoted education through the Novak Djokovic Foundation founded by him and his wife, Jelena. Djokovic joins Jonesworks’ roster of athletes, talent and Fortune 500 brands including Tom Brady, Carmelo Anthony, Venus Williams, Russell Wilson, Kyle Kuzma and Scotty James.
Playfly Sports Names Nicolina O’Rorke Chief Financial Officer
Playfly Sports, the sports media, marketing, and technology firm, has added Nicolina O’Rorke as chief financial officer. O’Rorke was most recently at McCann Worldgroup as the Global CFO. There, she led and developed a multinational team of finance and accounting professionals, including commercial finance and operations, financial planning and analysis, controllership and treasury and M&A. Prior to her time at McCann, she spent 17 years at NBCUniversal, with the last six years in the sports space.
Sphere Entertainment Names Chandra Allison Exec VP for Sales and Service
Chandra Allison, a sales and marketing veteran in the hospitality and events industries, has joined Sphere Entertainment as executive vice president, sales and service for Las Vegas’ Sphere. In this new role, Allison will be responsible for driving Sphere’s sales strategies and customer experiences at Sphere. Working with executive leadership, Allison will develop a corporate conference business for product launches and other events. Most recently, Allison served as senior vice president of strategy and growth at Oak View Group (OVG). In this role she was responsible for overseeing strategy and growth across the OVG360 portfolio.
LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games Name Reginal Hoover as CEO
Reginal Hoover has been named the chief executive officer of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Hoover comes to LA28 following leadership positions in the U.S. military, along with senior civilian roles in the federal government As CEO, Hoover will direct the Organizing Committee’s day-to-day work and report to LA28 chairperson and president Casey Wasserman. He will begin at LA28 on June 10. A U.S. Army and National Guard veteran, Hoover earned the rank of Lieutenant General, with three stars. Most recently, Hoover served as Deputy Commander, U.S. Northern Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs from 2016 until he retired in 2018.
PARTNERSHIPS
Maestro Dobel Tequila Partners With Jon Rahm, Legion XIII
LIV Golf’s first expansion team, Legion XIII, captained by two-time major champion Jon Rahm, announced a multiyear partnership with Maestro Dobel Tequila, creators of Cristalino tequila. The strategic alliance designates Maestro Dobel as the Official Tequila of Jon Rahm and Legion XIII ahead of this week’s LIV Golf Houston event at the Golf Club of Houston. At LIV Golf Houston, Legion XIII and Rahm will host a tequila bar and tasting experience, with a celebratory toast to officially kick off the partnership.
Alibaba.com Teams Up with UEFA EURO 2024 as Official B2B E-Commerce Partner
Alibaba.com, a platform for global B2B e-commerce and a business unit of Alibaba International Digital Commerce Group, will collaborate with the UEFA European Championship, becoming the official B2B E-commerce Partner of UEFA Euro 2024 in the U.S. and China. This exclusive partnership sits within the existing agreement that B2C e-commerce platform AliExpress has with UEFA Euro 2024. It is set to create a variety of opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) on Alibaba.com to leverage the demand around the tournament. Alibaba.com is launching initiatives aimed at supporting SMEs to empower them in their business pursuits. These initiatives include offering enticing deals and giveaways, as well as providing cutting-edge sourcing tools to help SMEs elevate their sales.
PRODUCTS
SKI Partners Launches Global Advisory Firm
Phoenicia Sport and Entertainment chairman and founder Chris Lencheski, and U.S.-based attorney Stuart Goldfarb, announced at the Middle East Sports Investment Forum 2024 at Emirates Stadium, the launch of SKI Partners—a new global advisory firm focusing on “operator-first” private equity-owned companies using sports, entertainment, media and real estate as levers for global business development in both mature and emerging markets. SKI Partners’ anticipated growth into additional geographic areas was not disclosed but is expected across new MENA markets and the African continent.
PURCHASES
Beard Club Names MLB’s Justin Turner as Equity Partner
Beard Club, a men’s grooming firm, has added Major League Baseball player Justin Turner as an equity partner. Turner, a two-time All-Star and World Series champion, will serve as an ambassador for Beard Club and participate in marketing initiatives aimed at sports fans. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Turner, who wasn’t allowed to have a beard as a minor leaguer with the Reds, Orioles and Mets, started growing his full facial hair after getting called up for his rookie year in the major leagues. A fan favorite with the Mets, Turner later joined the Dodgers and was a member of the 2020 World Series championship team. He signed with the Toronto Blue Jays during the most recent offseason.