Welcome to Sportico’s transactions wire, a weekly rundown of personnel, partnerships, products and purchases across the sports business industry.
PERSONNEL
Jon Hoffman Joins The Chernin Group as Partner
The Chernin Group (TCG), a growth equity firm, has named Jon Hoffman as a partner to lead TCG’s investor relations and capital formation efforts. Hoffman arrives from Rhône, a transatlantic middle market private equity firm, which he joined in 2014 and where he served as managing director & head of investor relations since 2018. TCG’s portfolio includes sports, media and entertainment companies as well as other tech-enabled consumer businesses. Recent investments by TCG include Unrivaled Sports, Vuori and Classic Football Shirts.
Next League Hires Shripal Shah as Chief Digital Officer
Next League, a digital growth consultancy and technology services organization, has hired Shripal Shah as its first chief digital officer to help drive an expanded focus on emerging technologies, MarTech and AI. Next League wants to reshape how sports organizations engage fans, increase fan loyalty, diversify revenue and pioneer new avenues of digital transformation. Prior to Next League, Shah spent six years as chief digital officer at Shop Your Way, a loyalty and credit card platform.
Special Olympics International Board of Directors Elects Members
The international board of directors for Special Olympics has elected new members Mathilde Mukantabana and Russell Wolff and returning members Angelo Moratti and Loretta Claiborne. Mukantabana serves as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of the Republic of Rwanda to the U.S., as well as non-resident ambassador to Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. Wolff is a managing director and head of sports, media and entertainment operations at Sixth Street, a global investment firm. Moratti serves as chairman of Special Olympics Italy and is founder and chairman of Angel Capital Management. Claiborne, a Special Olympics athlete and motivational speaker, is the chief inspiration officer for Special Olympics.
PWHL Promotes Trio to Executive Leadership Positions
The Professional Women’s Hockey League has confirmed three promotions: Jayna Hefford to executive vice president of hockey operations, Amy Scheer to executive vice president of business operations and Jen Flynn to senior vice president of business affairs & general counsel. Hefford, previously senior VP of hockey operations, will continue to serve as head of all facets of hockey operations. Scheer, previously senior VP of business operations, will continue to oversee all business functions of the league. Previously serving as vice president and general counsel, Flynn’s new role expands her responsibilities to include finance and human resources, in addition to overseeing the legal department.
PARTNERSHIPS
United Football League Partners With Arlington, Texas, for Operations HQ
The United Football League has chosen the city of Arlington, Texas, as its year-round football operations home. UFL owner Dany Garcia, UFL president and CEO Russ Brandon, UFL executive VP of football operations Daryl Johnston and city of Arlington mayor Jim Ross made the announcement at the league’s new offices located at Ballpark Circle. The UFL HQ will encompass multiple facilities in central Arlington, which will serve as the football hub for all eight UFL teams. UFL HQ will consist of five centralized facilities: the offices at UFL HQ (1401 Nolan Ryan Expressway), Choctaw Stadium, and three additional practice locations in the area.
Playbet.io Becomes Como 1907’s Official Entertainment Partner
Playbet.io will become Serie A club Como 1907’s Official Entertainment Partner in a multiyear deal. Fans can expect to see the Playbet.io logo onLED boards at every home match for Como 1907 throughout the duration of the partnership, which was brokered by Nick Hunter of P11 Group and commercial agent Oliver Smith.
NASCAR Names Samsung a Technology Partner
Samsung has been named a NASCAR Technology Partner and will provide digital displays for the NASCAR fan experience, racing operations and enterprise processes. The multiyear partnership will begin with the introduction of Samsung’s displays and monitors for NASCAR Productions’ newly launched remote race control room in NASCAR’s production facility in Concord, N.C. The remote race control room will be fully operational to support the 2025 NASCAR Cup series, which begins Sunday.
U.S. Ski & Snowboard and Ski Austria Announce Strategic Partnership
U.S. Ski & Snowboard and Ski Austria announced a partnership around sports, marketing and commercial opportunities designed to leverage the unique expertise and resources of both organizations to achieve shared goals. The deal marks U.S. Ski & Snowboard’s first commercial partnership with another country’s national ski and snowboard organization and includes reciprocal access to training facilities, sharing expertise and best practices in coaching, athlete development, sport science and performance optimization.
AXS and Indian Wells Tennis Garden Renew Partnership
AXS and the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, home of the BNP Paribas Open, have renewed their partnership. All tickets to the BNP Paribas Open are digital and managed through AXS’ ticketing technology platform. The Indian Wells Tennis Garden will continue to leverage a number of ticketing technology solutions from AXS, including AXS IQ, AXS Mobile ID, data and reporting, and 3D maps. The BNP Paribas Open mobile app will remain fully integrated with the AXS ticketing platform.
Diamond Baseball Holdings and OVG Hospitality Expand Partnership
Diamond Baseball Holdings (DBH), the owner and operator of minor league baseball clubs affiliated with Major League Baseball, and OVG Hospitality, the food and beverage division of Oak View Group, have expanded their partnership to address concession stand selections and catering experiences at the ballparks of 10 additional clubs on DBH’s roster. The new DBH teams in the OVG portfolio are the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, Columbus Clingstones, Harrisburg Senators, Hickory Crawdads, Hub City Spartanburgers, Iowa Cubs, Lansing Lugnuts, Memphis Redbirds, Tulsa Drillers and Vancouver Canadians. Through the expansion of this partnership, OVG Hospitality is now the official food and beverage provider for 25 clubs and ballparks.
DAZN, European League of Football Agree Multiyear Global Broadcast Deal
The European League of Football (ELF) and DAZN have signed a new eight-year partnership that will see DAZN broadcast all 101 games of the 2025 season. DAZN will become the exclusive OTT provider with a new ELF Game Pass product that joins NFL Game Pass, National League, Rally TV, PGA Tour Pass and FIBA’s Courtside 1891 as a standalone add-on channel within the DAZN platform. All are available as part of an enhanced and upgraded DAZN subscription or as a standalone service. With DAZN, ELF will be available in over 200 markets.
PFL Announces Atturo Tires as Official Tire Partner
The Professional Fighters League (PFL) announced a new multiyear partnership with Atturo Tires to become the Official Tire Partner of the PFL. Atturo Tires will be featured throughout the 2025 PFL World Tournament via high visibility branding at PFL events. Atturo commercials will be included during the TV and streaming broadcast on ESPN networks. The multi-faceted partnership will also enlist two brand ambassadors to enhance the agreement through content and creative campaigns. In addition, the PFL and Atturo Tires will collaborate on original content.
Hexagon Cup Renews Partnership With Story10 for Its Second Edition
Hexagon Cup, a padel event for teams, has renewed its partnership with Story10, the global sports video production and distribution agency, to increase international exposure and drive further awareness of the Alpine Hexagon Cup 2025. The extended partnership will see Story10 continue to distribute and promote highlights from the second edition of the Hexagon Cup event across its extensive global distribution network of 700+ broadcast channels and 8,500+ digital sites. Additionally, Story10 will provide bespoke reporting and campaign performance metrics.
American Cornhole League Featured in Google Super Bowl Campaign
The American Cornhole League was chosen by Google to be featured in Google’s new “50 States, 50 Stories” campaign, which shows how businesses across the country are using AI and technology to perform. The campaign highlights 50 Google Workspace customer stories with local TV ads during the Super Bowl in their respective markets. The ACL was selected to be the focus of the South Carolina ad because of the league’s use of Google Workspace and incorporation of Google Gemini into its operations. The campaign ad will run on the day of the Super Bowl as well as in national 90-second ads for centered on Gemini.
PURCHASES
Michael Haddix Jr. and Scout Secure Additional Funding
Scout, a provider of financial literacy, tax, and investment solutions for conferences, athletic departments and student-athletes, has closed a new round of venture capital funding. The new capital will support the development of personalized financial tools for athletes and their families, including tax and investment management products. The new funding investors include Andy Katz, Adam Breneman, Oli Marmol and Jim Briles.
