Creative Artists Agency is expanding its hospitality and event business into China.
CAA Premium Experience, the hospitality, event management and marketing division of the Hollywood agency, has signed a multiyear deal to partner with Beijing-based sports and entertainment conglomerate iRena International, which operates some of the largest stadiums in China. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
But Robert Tuchman, an executive working in CAA Premium Experience, said the deal was for four years with options to renew.
“There are clauses in there to renew at any time and there is the potential that we may do that even before this agreement is out,” Tuchman said. “We wanted to have enough time because it is going to take time to learn the culture, ramp up, start selling the experiences.”
The deal gives CAA access to the China market and gives iRena a vehicle to create exclusive sports and entertainment hospitality and experiences for high-net-worth individuals and companies in the country. Founded in 2001, iRena employs about 400 and operates eight stadiums in China, including The Workers’ Stadium in Beijing, Hongkou Football Stadium in Shanghai and the Tianjin Olympic Center Stadium. The company maintains long-term partnerships with China’s Olympic team and the Chinese national soccer teams, and it co-promoted the NBA China Global Games in Shenzhen in 2015.
The partnership with iRena is the latest step in CAA’s concerted drive to become a global player in corporate hospitality.
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TUCHMAN
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The agency launched its hospitality and events business in February 2014 by acquiring Inside Sports & Entertainment. Last year, CAA bought Tuchman’s firm, Goviva, and Beyond Sports & Entertainment.
Last June, at the time of the second round of acquisitions, CAA merged all three former rival firms into one and renamed it CAA Premium Experience.
Since then, business is up 20 percent to 30 percent for the combined entity, compared with what the three firms were doing separately, Tuchman said.
Tuchman and Daniel Manwaring, who oversees CAA’s corporate and business development in China from its Beijing office, will oversee the partnership for the agency.
CAA has counted iRena as a corporate client for more than two years, and the agency has advised iRena on its overseas strategy with a specific focus on investments and partnerships in sports and entertainment, Manwaring said.
After CAA formed CAA Premium Experience, Manwaring said, he placed a call to iRena CEO Eric Gao, who expressed interest in a partnership with the hospitality division.
“An hour later, we had come up with a rough framework of what the partnership would look like and had calls with our U.S. colleagues that evening,” Manwaring said. “That is how quickly it came together.”
It is possible that CAA may add more staff to its Beijing office, but iRena’s staff is expected to sell the packages and experiences. An example of one of the experiences that could be sold is a trip to the U.S. to see a series of NBA games, including first-class hotel accommodations and meet-and-greets with former or current NBA players.
