Bruin Sports Capital, the sports, media and marketing company started by George Pyne, today will formally announce that Tony Crispino will be its COO. Crispino worked with Pyne when both were at IMG. SportsBusiness Daily reported in December that Crispino would leave IMG to go to work for Bruin. Today's announcement officially makes Crispino the first major hire at Bruin by Pyne. Crispino had worked at IMG since '05 when he was recruited to the company by late Chair Ted Forstmann to help run the business. Crispino, who worked to establish a financial and operational framework across all of IMG's divisions, had previously worked for Forstmann at Gulfstream.
At Bruin, Crispino will be responsible for the overall business and its operations, from business development to financial management. Pyne announced last month that Bruin had secured an initial investment of $250M, mostly from WPP. Bruin intends to acquire, build and operate businesses with a focus on sports and entertainment, media, marketing and branded lifestyle, Pyne said.
