welcome to Sportico’s Deal Wires, a weekly overview of people, partnerships, purchases and products across the sports business industry.
human resources
NBA appoints new chief people officer
NBA named Sabrina Ellis as the new Chief People Officer. Ellis said he joined the company on January 17, NBA President, Administration Kyle He will report to Kavanaugh. In this role, Ellis will oversee all aspects of the league’s global talent strategy, including compensation and benefits, talent acquisition, learning and leadership development. Global BestHer focus on practices and inclusion builds, implements and drives engagement her initiatives that address employee culture and attract globally diverse employee groups. Ellis joined her NBA from New York University and since 2016 has served as Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. Prior to that, George was Vice President of Human Resources at the University of Washington and Assistant Vice President of Human Resources at the City University of New York (Cuney).
Former President Turner Joins SimWin Sports
Digital Sports League SimWin Sports Hires Former Turner President David Levy As an advisory board member and team owner. After his 32-year tenure at Turner, Levy is looking to the next generation of the sport. Levy owns and manages the Arizona Roadrunners basketball team and operates a team of virtual players that everyday users can purchase and develop. Levy’s team will face teams owned by other celebrities such as Magic Johnson, Jerry Rice, LaMelo Ball, Penny Hardaway and Tracy McGrady. Levy is no stranger to modern gaming, having brought esports to television with his creation of ELeague on TBS and several other broadcast esports competitions. Over the past three years, Levy has focused his attention on the world of sports betting, with investments in Simplebet, Underdog and Phenix.
Spurs Exec Joins US Ski & Snowboard Board
Brought to you by US Ski & Snowboard Brandon Gale as its newest director. Gail has worked for Facebook, Instagram, Groupon, Bain & Company and is currently based in San Antonio, NBA, where he is the CEO of Spurs Sports & Entertainment, the parent company of the Spurs. Gale has also served as a board member of Zendesk and vice president of Greater: SATX Regional Economic Partnership, a public-private non-profit organization. For the Spurs, Gale is responsible for running the organization across ticketing, premium he seats, global he partnerships, brands he marketing, content and distribution, merchandising and business he communications. In addition to the NBA’s Spurs, the company’s portfolio includes the NBA G League’s Austin Spurs, United Soccer League’s San Antonio FC, AT&T Center and Toyota Field.
Vail Resorts Hires CFO
Vail Resorts, Inc. is back Angela Coach as EVP and CFO. She will rejoin her Vail Resorts from CorePower Yoga, where she has been CFO since May 2020. Previously, she held leadership roles in Vail Resorts’ financial organization for over ten years. During her tenure, she managed financial and capital allocation strategies, transformed core processes and played a key role in the integration of 32 mountain resorts. Prior to joining Vail Resorts, she was an assistant portfolio manager at Muzinich & Company.
XFL Appoints Chief Business and Legal Officer
Hired by XFL Wendy Bass As Chief Business and Legal Officer. Bass will oversee the legal, human resources and technical departments and will be responsible for the league’s broadcast partnerships with The Walt Disney Company and ESPN. She also oversees the league’s betting and gaming efforts. Bass is from NBC Sports Group where she joined XFL, where she served as senior vice president of programming and rights management. At NBC, she led relationships and negotiations with the company’s linear and digital partners and served as a member of the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Council.
Pixellot Tabs COO Streamlines Expansion
Pixellot, a provider of AI-automated sports production solutions, Tanami Ronen as Chief Operating Officer. In her most recent role, Tanami served as her SVP at Amdocs, where she managed quality engineering and headed the Revenue Guard business unit. He joined Amdocs as part of the cVidya acquisition after he served as his COO of cVidya for 10 years. During that period, cVidya acquired his ECTel and Tanami led the post-merger integration process. In his new role, he will focus on cross-functional process improvement, establishing new methodologies, processes and his KPIs to track, monitor and improve product development and delivery. Additionally, he supports other company activities, including strategic technology partnerships.
Premier Streaming Network Appoints Leadership Team to Launch in 2023
Premier Streaming Network (PSN) — a new streaming service that provides access to combat sports, professional wrestling and entertainment live events — is expected to launch in early 2023. The creation and operation of major PSNs Paul Owen and producer Josh ChernoffAs president of PSN, Owen has launched and managed streaming services in the combat sports and entertainment space, including World Wrestling Entertainment’s WWE Network and Ultimate Fighting Championship’s UFC Fight Pass. As Vice President of Programming and Creative Development for PSN, Shernoff is an on-air personality and award-winning host who has been a producer, promoter, programming and creative director, and graphics director for over 20 years. has worked behind the camera as an editor.
Playfly announces restructuring and promotion
Playfly’s home team sports group finalized an internal restructuring and subsequent promotions to strengthen its focus on specific goals. Chad CoferPromoted to SVP General Manager, he manages the entire media business with a focus on RSN relationships and internal financial operations. Laurie McCarthyPromoted to SVP Head of Agency Partnerships to oversee revenue efforts with agency partners nationwide and work closely with operations teams to improve connectivity to agency systems, RSN and digital measurement tools Explore more ways of assets. Aaron RoebergPromoted to VP Strategic Alliance, responsible for growing existing RSN, team and other content partner deals while creating new business models for home team sports.
partnership
SGC, PWCC Marketplace Partner for Streamlined Trading Card Verification Services
SGC and PWCC Marketplace have partnered on a streamlined grading service that allows clients to submit raw trading cards to PWCC and receive SGC-graded cards into their custody accounts with a rapid timeline . This service includes card identification by the PWCC team, PWCC-managed shipping, 10-day grading turnaround estimate, value-based grading tiers and paperwork eliminated, and autograph grading services for all manufacturer-issued autograph cards. will be The cost to rate each card through the service is $20 regardless of genre, category, or value. Clients can submit authenticated cards directly to the auction to deduct fees from the final sale price, or submit cards directly to vaults to pay the bill after the item is ingested.
