Wasserman Media Group’s action sports division is pushing into Europe by hiring two executives to manage athletes and relocating longtime motorsports executive Bob Moore to Italy.
The moves are driven by the action sports division’s belief that the European market is beginning to mature, said Circe Wallace, Wasserman’s senior vice president, action sports and lifestyle. The X Games began hosting an event in Tignes, France, in 2010; Burton Snowboards has been holding a European Open for 12 years; and Ticket to Ride, a Swiss event organizer, has been hosting snowboard competitions since 2002. The X Games also are looking at expanding globally and may add another event in Europe.
“Europeans have always been really involved in action sports, but they typically lived in the U.S. to have success,” said Wallace, who represents Swiss snowboarders Nicolas Müller and Iouri Podlatchikov. “We’re seeing a shift in that. There are more European-centric events. There’s better television coverage. There are better opportunities.”
Moore, Wasserman’s vice president of motorsports, relocated to Italy in September. He has hired two employees and is working on building the company’s client base in MotoGP, which hosts 12 of its 17 races in Europe. One of those races is in Italy. Moore already counts Cal Crutchlow and Andrea Dovizioso as MotoGP clients.
Wasserman has hired two Englishmen, James Vooght and Gregg Turner, to lead their other action sports management efforts in Europe. They will work out of the company’s London office and report to Wallace. Vooght will work on BMX and board sports, such as surf, skate and snowboarding, and Turner will work on winter sports, specifically skiing.
The International Olympic Committee decided to add ski halfpipe and slopestyle competitions to the 2014 Sochi Games, and Turner will focus on building a portfolio of athletes who participate in those disciplines. He also will look to add some downhill skiers, a move that will expand Wasserman beyond its historic focus on Olympic snowboarders.
“We don’t have traditional experience in ski, but Greg was a ski racer, so we’re going after the ski market,” Wallace said.
