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Former Relativity Sports execs Happy Walters and Josh Swartz "are launching a new venture, Catalyst Sports & Media, that will focus on the business of three global, growing sports: basketball, soccer and esports," according to Thomas & Mullen of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL.
Silicon Valley entrepreneur and Novo Construction CEO Jim Fowler "is backing the new agency," which has hired some young execs, including Bryce Blum, an attorney who has carved a niche as an expert in esports. Blum "will oversee esports as executive vice president."
The company, which is based in Santa Monica in the L.A. area and has a staff of 15, also hired former ESPN Dir of Multimedia Sales & Marketing Brad Sive as its CEO, and Charles Jackson, son of N.Y. Knicks President Phil Jackson, as an exec VP, responsible for business development, investment and recruitment efforts.
Walters launched the former Relativity Sports, which was part-owned by film studio Relativity Media, in '12 and grew it into "one of the biggest agencies in sports." Walters built Relativity Sports with the help of Swartz, who was hired as president in '13 after working at Wasserman.
Walters left the firm in Oct. '15 and Swartz in January of this year after Relativity Media "filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection."
Catalyst "is in discussions about European acquisitions" in the football business and announcements are expected soon, Walters said. "Fundamentally, we are going to follow the eyes and the brands, the dollars,” Swartz said. “It’s easy to say that now with ratings slipping … but younger consumers are not watching traditional sports the way they have in the past, and I think the most interesting and exciting space is esports." Catalyst has an investment with Super League Gaming, a recreational league played in movie theaters that just raised $5M in a Series C round of funding, and a partnership with GumGum, which provides in-image online advertising (
SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, issue 11/7).
