Google Global Head of Sports Content Partnerships CLAUDE RUIBAL has parted ways with the company, according to several sources. His last day was Friday, and he told staff of his impending departure late last week. No replacement has been announced. Ruibal’s exit raises questions about Google’s stomach for bidding on sports rights, something all U.S. leagues and TV networks have been monitoring closely. Hired in January '11, Ruibal was one of Google's biggest internal advocates for buying a package of live sports rights. Sources said that Ruibal initiated talks with the NFL for the out-of-market Sunday Ticket package last year as the league was negotiating a renewal with DirecTV. He also is leaving Google as the NFL is trying to find a distributor for one game to be delivered on an over-the-top basis this season. With Ruibal at the helm, Google was considered one of the front runners to land the OTT game. Under his watch, most major sports leagues have launched YouTube channels. He also concentrated on smaller, niche areas like action sports as a way to develop live sports. The World Surf League, for example, had several million viewers watching its Billabong Pipe Masters live via YouTube last December. One of the biggest deals Ruibal put together was making NFL in-game video highlights available on Google search results. The results direct people about where to see the live stream of the game. Ruibal is believed to be leaving the company on good terms. He joined Google from Universal Sports, a TV network he founded in '06 as the World Championship Sports Network.
