In an unusual tie-up between two management companies, Excel Sports Management and WIN Artists are forming a commercial partnership that will give Excel’s vast roster of athletes access to WIN’s expertise in media and entertainment across broadcast, digital media and content creation.
As the worlds of sports and entertainment continue to blur, with active athletes hosting podcasts and becoming widely-followed in social media, and with retired athletes pursuing media ambitions of their own, the two companies will work together to maximize those opportunities.
Excel, which was acquired by a division of Goldman Sachs last year, has a client roster that includes the likes of Tiger Woods, Nikola Jokic, Caitlin Clark, Derek Jeter, and Clayton Kershaw, among many others. WIN Artists, owned by Patrick Whitesell’s investment firm WTSL, is run by Josh Pyatt and counts clients like Bryson DeChambeau, Shaquille O’Neal’s Jersey Legends, Peyton Manning’s Omaha Productions, and Derek Jeter’s Cap 2.
“While I know the partnership is unique, I do think this is one of those cases where one plus one is going to equal three, and for us to be able to come together collectively and use our resources, it’s going to be able to be great for business,” says Excel senior VP of media talent Kevin Hopkins in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I think Josh specifically, and the level of expertise that he has from a production standpoint building out production businesses for some of the top clients in the world, and I think from an Excel standpoint we feel like we’re best in class from a talent representation standpoint, and what we do on the sales and marketing side, I think when we looked at both businesses collectively here, it seemed to make a lot of sense, and even in just these first few months of us kicking this off, it’s been a really strong start.”
