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Sportico Transactions: Moves and Mergers Roundup for March 10

Sportico Staff
·8 min read

Welcome to Sportico’s Transactions wire, a weekly rundown of personnel, partnerships and products across the sports business industry.

Personnel

Genius Sports Announces Board Appointments 

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Genius Sports Limited has added two new members to its Board of Directors. Kenneth J. Kay is an independent director who will chair the audit committee, succeeding Harry You, and will also serve as a member of the board’s nominating and corporate governance committee. He’s previously been the CFO for various global and Fortune 500 Companies, including Dole Food Company, CB Richard Ellis Group, Inc., Las Vegas Sands Corporation and MGM Holdings, Inc. Michael Messara becomes an independent observer of the Board. Michael is the co-chief investment officer at Caledonia Investments Pty Limited, a long-term shareholder in Genius. Michael started his career in equity research as an analyst at UBS AG in Sydney, and joined Caledonia in 2006.

Diamond Sports Group Names Meredith Powers Chief Human Resources Officer

Diamond Sports Group has appointed Meredith Powers to the role of chief human resources officer, the first person to hold that position within the company. In this role, Powers will be responsible for leading DSG’s HR organization, including talent management, leadership development, compensation and benefits, and diversity and inclusion. Powers will report directly to DSG chief executive officer, David Preschlack. Powers has more than two decades of Human Resources experience and joins Diamond from GE Digital, where she served as organization and talent development leader.

BSE Global Hires Keia Cole as Chief Digital Officer

BSE Global, the parent company of the Brooklyn Nets and the Barclays Center, has brought on Keia Cole as chief digital officer. In this role, she will oversee all technology, digital products, information systems and analytics for BSE Global. Before joining BSE Global, Cole held a number of roles across technology and customer experience at MassMutual. Most notably, Cole was the head of digital experience, leading a team focused on driving MassMutual’s digital transformation efforts, including the design and development of modern technology solutions for customers, financial professionals, and employees.

EBK Appoints New CEO to Lead E-Bike City Racing Series

The FIM EBK World Cup, an all-new e-bike city racing series, confirmed that Alexandre Molina will lead the new series as CEO as it prepares to launch and stage inaugural races in 2023 ahead of its first full season in 2024. Molina, who has spent three decades in Formula One, recently as the sport’s director of events, will head an experienced executive group tasked with launching the new racing series. The FIM EBK World Cup is the first series dedicated to high-speed crit-style e-bike racing in cities around the world. The new series is gender inclusive and has a declared mission to use sport to champion the adoption of clean mobility solutions.

Octagon Names Camille Buxeda Director of Women’s Basketball

Octagon has added Camille Buxeda as director of women’s basketball. In the role, Buxeda will lead Octagon’s women’s basketball division, including oversight of new signings, as well as marketing and strategic initiatives for WNBA and NCAA clients. Prior to joining Octagon, Buxeda founded and served as the director of WSLAM, SLAM’s iconic women’s basketball focused platform. During her tenure, Buxeda produced more than 15 magazine covers featuring WNBA and NCAA athletes, helped grow WSLAM’s social following to over 350,000 across platforms and managed the creation of WSLAM’s first print magazine holistically dedicated to women’s basketball. Previously, Buxeda helped lead social and digital content efforts at the WNBA.

Tempus Ex Machina Promotes Chief Technology Officer

Tempus Ex Machina, a cutting-edge sports technology company, promoted Chris Brown to chief technology officer. He previously served as Tempus Ex’s director of engineering. In his new role, Brown will lead technical efforts of the engineering team, create relevant policy and align technology-driven decisions and initiatives. In his previous role, Brown built and supervised the infrastructure development of Tempus Ex’s proprietary technology. Before joining Tempus Ex, Brown built the technology stack for the 2019 launch of the Alliance of American Football. He holds several patents for achievements at the Alliance as well as Tempus Ex for creating the infrastructure for large-scale national sporting events.

Partnerships

Formula E, DHL Renew Deal for Gen3 Era

Formula E and DHL have signed a multi-year partnership extension that makes the delivery company an Official Founding and Official Logistics Partner as the league introduces its Gen3 car and ninth season. DHL provides sustainable logistics, incorporating tailored multimodal transport, including both road and sea freight, that maximizes efficiency and reduces CO2 emissions as the circuit stages 16 races in 11 cities around the world. Using biofuels for all road and sea freight, DHL will travel the expected 89,100 kilometers for the upcoming season, moving approximately 415 tons of valuable freight per race, including race cars, batteries, charging units, broadcast equipment, and marketing and hospitality equipment. The Gen3 car will debut this week at the 2023 Hankook Mexico City E-Prix, the season opener.

Arena Group and Sports Illustrated Connect With Four New Sports Properties 

The Arena Group Holdings and its sports media vertical, Sports Illustrated Media Group, have partnered with four properties to expand the publisher’s existing coverage across professional football, college sports, wrestling, and mixed martial arts. The four media properties will utilize The Arena Group’s platform capabilities. Sports Illustrated Media Group will add millions of users and advertising impressions to its footprint. The properties are: AtoZ Sports (NFL, 3 million unique users per month); College Football News (1.5 million); MMA News (1.9 million); SE Scoops (pro wrestling, 1.5 million).

EA Sports Expands with Women’s Soccer League and Players Association  

In a deal among the National Women’s Soccer League, the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association and EA Sports will integrate NWSL teams and players into FIFA 2023. Starting March 15, across all platforms, all 12 NWSL teams will be present within the game’s Kick Off, Tournament Mode, Head-to-Head season / Co-op Seasons and Online Friendlies. Four NWSL stadiums, along with authentic kits, starheads, trophies and celebrations will also be available within the game. Additionally, EA Sports and the NWSLPA will focus on elevating players on and off the pitch.

NBC Sports Next Becomes Online Distribution Partner for Teesnap

NBC Sports Next and golf course management software provider, Teesnap, have agreed to collaborate on technology that will allow courses using Teesnap software to distribute their tee times on GolfNow’s online platform, the world’s largest tee-time marketplace. The long-term agreement represents Teesnap’s first external distribution relationship, making GolfNow the company’s official online distribution partner. The two organizations will collaborate to enhance the integration of their technologies, which will provide Teesnap’s clients an opportunity to invite more golfers to play their golf courses.

Matchday Raises $21M from Messi’s Play Time and Others

Matchday—a company at the intersection of video games, sports and web3—has raised $21 million in seed funding to build an ecosystem of soccer games for billions of fans worldwide. Matchday’s partners, team, investors and advisors—which include Argentinian soccer star Lionel Messi’s investment firm Play Time and two-time Ballon d’Or-winner Alexia Putellas—all reflect the team’s ambition and opportunity. Matchday’s other investors include Courtside Ventures, Greylock, HackVC, Capricorn Investment Group and Horizons Ventures. The company has signed a multi-year partnership with FIFA to bring world-class tournaments, including the Men’s and Women’s World Cup, professional football leagues, and male and female football ambassadors, into a new suite of video games to launch this year that lets fans build squads and collect digital cards of their favorite footballers.

AT&T Renews NCAA Tournament Deal

AT&T is renewing its Corporate Champion partnership with the NCAA until 2025. AT&T looks at the NCAA as a key platform for driving equity between women’s and men’s sports, and will be doing a push this year with WNBA star A’ja Wilson to get all U.S. companies to fill out women’s and men’s brackets, and it will promote bracket equity among all AT&T employees.

Legends Secures Pair of Partnership Deals

Bakkt Holdings reached an agreement with Caesars Entertainment to rename the live entertainment venue at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino as Bakkt Theater. The collaboration should allow Caesars Rewards members to redeem their Rewards Credits through Bakkt Crypto Rewards, pending regulatory approval. In a separate deal, the Board of the Wisconsin Center District, which owns and operates the Wisconsin Center, Miller High Life Theatre and UW-M Panther Arena, authorized the district to finalize an agreement with Baird to become the official naming rights partner of the Wisconsin Center. The expansion of the Wisconsin Center, a $456 million project, broke ground on October 28, 2021
and is anticipated to open in May 2024. Both deals were brokered by Legends.

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