Wasserman is expanding into hockey, acquiring a significant equity stake in the major NHL player representation firm Orr Hockey Group, which counts reigning league MVP Connor McDavid as a client.
The percentage of Wasserman’s equity stake in the firm and other financial details were not disclosed.
The firm, founded by Hockey Hall of Fame player Bobby Orr in 2002, counts about 40 NHL players as clients, including two No. 1 draft picks — Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad and McDavid, the Edmonton Oilers center who won the 2017 Hart Trophy, given to the NHL’s most valuable player.
Hart Trophy winner Connor McDavid is among the 40 NHL players that Orr Hockey Group represents.Getty Images
The firm also represents about 40 minor league and developmental players, including Evan Bouchard, the highest-scoring defenseman in the Ontario Hockey League and a projected high first-round selection for this June’s NHL draft.
The move makes Wasserman, which has a large NBA and MLB player representation practice and represents some NFL players, including Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, a major player in hockey. Wasserman represents about 1,600 players and other sports talent globally, including soccer players, golfers, women’s basketball players, action sports athletes and winter and summer Olympians in multiple sports as well as coaches and broadcasters.
Wasserman
“We are in the business of representing the world’s best talent in the areas we operate, and acquiring a significant equity interest in Orr … will obviously further our business,” said Casey Wasserman, Wasserman CEO and chair. “Hockey is a sport we haven’t been in, but obviously we believe in the sport.”
Orr Hockey Group agents Jeff Jackson and Dave Gagner will continue to lead the practice, and Bobby Orr will continue to serve as a senior consultant. Orr, in a statement, said, “I am proud to associate my name with a company like Wasserman and am excited about the things we can accomplish together in hockey going forward.”
Jackson
All employees of Orr Hockey Group will stay in place, but the group will work with Wasserman, which is headquartered in Los Angeles but has an office in Toronto, where Jackson and Gagner are based.
“We are going to continue to operate as Orr Hockey Group, but there will be tie-ins with Wasserman,” Jackson said. The agreement will allow the group to keep the Orr name but bring in the Wasserman agency’s expertise in marketing, social media management and other athlete representation services, as well as Wasserman’s global reach.
Gagner
The deal was completed by the teams at Orr, led by Jackson, and Wasserman, led by Jason Ranne, Wasserman COO and executive vice president of team sports. Jackson said he’s been talking with Ranne for more than a year and executives at the agencies really got to know each other before consummating the agreement.
“They have the same philosophy that we have — the way they treat players and the way they provide service to players,” Jackson said. “The cultures, they mesh. And, at the end of the day, they bring to us a lot of things we don’t have in-house. We are not a big agency.”
Ranne said he was attracted to the ownership and leadership of the Orr group, as well as its client list.
“They are unique in the NHL space,” he said. “Their clients are unique, their ownership is unique and their leadership is unique. If you look at our opportunities and our strategic plan to expand into hockey and you evaluate that marketplace, they stand out on many different levels.”
