Editor’s note: This story is revised from the print edition.
Independent Sports and Entertainment has hired Chris Grancio as chief marketing officer, the first major move for the recently relaunched agency.
Grancio joins ISE from Adidas, where he was general manager of global basketball.
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Chris Grancio was responsible for all aspects of basketball at Adidas.
Photo by: ISE |
Grancio will be based out of Los Angeles and starts today. He’ll report to Hank Ratner, ISE CEO and president.
“Hiring Chris is the easiest thing I’ve ever done,” Ratner said. “This is a star.”
ISE was launched in June, after billionaire investor and Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle renewed his investment in the former Relativity Sports and hired Ratner, who has more than 30 years of experience in the sports and entertainment industries, to restart it and build it out.
Ratner said he wanted someone who would help not only with the marketing and branding of ISE’s 300 MLB, NFL and NBA clients but also with the strategic direction of the company.
Ratner was president and CEO of the Madison Square Garden Co. from 2009 to 2014 and was well aware of Grancio’s reputation in the sports industry as a rising sports executive and innovator. Grancio was named to SportsBusiness Journal/SportsBusiness Daily’s Forty Under 40 list in 2013.
“I got recommendations left and right that Chris is the one,” Ratner said. “And, when we did meet, it didn’t take long to reach that conclusion myself.”
Grancio will also serve as part of the senior management of the company.
Grancio said he sees his new job as a unique challenge. “I have had a ton of opportunity to engage with agencies across a wide variety of functions from athlete representation to consulting,” he said. “As the discussions started with Hank around ISE, it really struck me as a once-in-a-lifetime chance to come in and create a new agency brand, to have a chance to really put my thumbprint on the structure of the business.”
Among the areas ISE is eying for expansion are digital media, content, corporate hospitality, corporate consulting and live events.
At Adidas, Grancio was responsible for all aspects of the basketball category, including product creation, merchandising, grassroots events, negotiating endorsement contracts and managing the 11-year outfitting partnership with the NBA that will end after this season.
“I come at this from a completely fresh set of eyes,” Grancio said. “As a brand-first thinker, I think it will give me a lot of opportunities to really work with our agents and work with our athletes to uncover opportunities for them and build their brand, not only here in North America, but globally.”
Ratner indicated that Grancio’s hire was a sign of things to come for ISE. “We are not looking at this as your run-of-the-mill talent representation firm,” he said. “We are approaching this as a fully integrated media and entertainment business, and Chris coming on is an example of how serious we take what we are setting out to do.”
