DAVE CHECKETTS is close to finalizing an investment in Legends Hospitality that will see him become Chair & CEO of the Yankees- and Cowboys-owned company. He will replace former CEO MIKE RAWLINGS, who was elected the mayor of Dallas last summer. In addition to becoming Chair & CEO of Legends, Checketts will invest in the company through a fund he raised independently earlier this year. His investment will buy out the stake Dallas-based private equity group CIC Partners held in Legends. Checketts will continue to run his company SCP Worldwide, which is the managing partner of MLS Real Salt Lake, owner of the production company Tupelo Honey and the live entertainment group Running Subway. SCP Worldwide is in the process of selling the Blues and Scottrade Center. Checketts has been in talks with Legends since this fall about taking a position with the company. An agreement is expected in the coming weeks. Legends has gradually expanded its services in recent years. The three-year-old company started as a food and retail provider but added premium-seat sales and consulting services, ticket sales training and other services. It recently acquired CSL International and CSL Marketing Group, which does sports research and venue marketing. Checketts became the youngest GM in NBA history when he took over that position with the Jazz at the age of 28. He went on to become MSG President and Owner of the Blues and Real Salt Lake (Tripp Mickle, SportsBusiness Journal). Checketts' group "will take about a 16 percent stake in the company" (BLOOMBERG NEWS, 12/13).
BLUES DEAL NOT IN JEOPARDY: In St. Louis, Jeremy Rutherford reports Checketts' involvement as an investor in MATTHEW HULSIZER's bid to buy the Blues "won't change" due to his involvement in Legends. A source said that Checketts' fund "will continue with its plan to buy a 30 percent stake in the Blues if a sale to Hulsizer is completed" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 12/13).
