Esports organization Immortals has hired former Coyotes COO ARI SEGAL to become its first President & COO, putting him in charge of all business operations as the group enters the new Overwatch League and vies for a spot in Riot Games’ reconstituted League Championship Series. He will report to CEO NOAH WHINSTON, and will make up Whinston’s top exec tier alongside GM NICK PHAN, who oversees all competitive issues. Segal will run marketing, sales, media, finance and other matters at both the enterprise level and for the five individual teams Immortals currently operates. Whinston said Segal, who left the Coyotes in May, won the team over with his commitment to “innovation, access, transparency and accountability." “Ari brings a wealth of knowledge and passion from the traditional sports industry and has a proven track record of building or reposting brands to connect deeply with fans, particularly in their local markets,” Whinston said. After first meeting with Whinston in June, Segal said he quickly became enamored with Immortals’ BOD and investor roster, which includes AEG, Grizzlies co-Owner STEPHEN KAPLAN and Lionsgate Interactive President PETER LEVIN. "It would be hard to hand-pick a better more diverse, more well-connected and better suited investor group than this opportunity,” Segal said. Immortals Chair CLINTON FOY praised Segal's experience working with AEG and other major players in sports and entertainment.
OUTLET FOR CREATIVITY: Segal said esports offers an opportunity for creativity that is unusual in established sports with well-defined revenue streams and business practices. “When you’re in a decline situation, you're just managing cash, surviving and trying to figure out how to get to tomorrow,” said Segal, who prior to his one season with the Coyotes worked with the Ducks. “Growth creates opportunity, opportunity for risk, speculation, creativity. It creates momentum. All of those things crate a dynamic, opportunistic work environment that can be hard to find in traditional sports." He also predicted that traditional sports will embrace esports’ approach to distributing its product in on-demand, socially connected video. Segal joins at a pivotal time. Already one of the most prominent American esports groups, Immortals has secured one of the two L.A. franchises in Activision Blizzard’s new Overwatch League. One immediate task for Immortals is to develop a new brand for its team that will compete in the league when it launches exhibition play in December. Also, Immortals has an application pending for a permanent spot in Riot’s League of Legends top North American tier. It also fields teams in Counter-strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2 and Super Smash Bros.
