Blue Equity has acquired Maxx Sports & Entertainment, an independent agency that specializes in representing sports broadcasters, including Rodney Harrison, Amy Trask and brothers Tiki and Ronde Barber.
Mark Lepselter, who founded and owns New York-based Maxx, will become president of broadcasting for the new sports and entertainment company that Blue Equity’s chairman and managing director, Jonathan Blue, is building. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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LEPSELTER
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It is the first sports acquisition by Blue since he sold the former BEST, or Blue Entertainment Sports Television, to Lagardère Sports in 2010. Blue agreed to a five-year restriction on competing in the sports business as part of his deal with Lagardère, an agreement that expired this year.
Blue’s new sports platform has not yet been named, and the broadcasting agency will continue to operate under the name Maxx Sports & Entertainment for a while. All 65 sports broadcasting clients of Maxx, which also include Raul Ibanez, Bart Scott and Jeremy Roenick, are expected to join the firm, as are the agency’s five employees.
Both Lepselter and Blue said Lepselter had agreed to a long-term employment contract, as is common in such agency acquisitions. Additionally, Lepselter will get equity in the platform.
The agency business has been going through a period of consolidation since the late 1990s, but it is the first time that Lepselter, an entrepreneur, has sold to a larger firm. He first founded his company as Maxximum Marketing in 1995 and then changed the name to Maxx Sports & Entertainment in 2008.
“I’ve been approached numerous times over the last few years,” Lepselter said. “Our business is vibrant. It’s an expanding industry. There are so many platforms out there. Different entities and individuals are aware of that.”
Blue said he is in talks with lifestyle and sports firms and expects to announce additional acquisitions in the next 120 to 180 days. Blue would not disclose the companies he is in discussions to buy, but said a broadcaster representation firm would complement those other businesses if deals are completed.
Blue said he acquired a sports broadcast talent representation firm first by design. “This is a great place to start,” he said.
Maxx was “on our radar” as an acquisition target in 2010, Blue said, but he was too far down the road in talks to sell the former BEST to engage seriously with Lepselter at that time.
“There are multiple areas of activation compared to the outlets for on-air and digital talent when we sold in 2010 to Lagardère, and for sure, prior to that in 2006, when we entered the [sports] sector,” Blue said. “Imagine what the broadcasting and announcing business will look like five years from now. Massive growth is imminent.”
Blue Equity was founded in 2004 and is based in Louisville, Ky. The company has invested in and sold companies in industries other than sports. It sold a Spanish-language telephone directory business to Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim in 2006. Earlier this year, Blue Equity sold Angel’s Envy, a bourbon brand, to Bacardi.
“I respect what Jonathan did in his first endeavor into the sports world and his background as a businessman,” Lepselter said. “I’ve been in my own business for a long time, so for me to take this dive into a partnership … it really had to be the right fit, the right individual, to go into business with and for.”
