Leagues and Governing Bodies
Carlos Silva moves to World TeamTennis
Sports media veteran wants to eventually take league from six to 12 teams
World TeamTennis tapped longtime sports media executive Carlos Silva to be its CEO.
The move to hire Silva as CEO comes after the sports business veteran bought a small ownership stake in the league, sources said. It’s not known how big Silva’s stake is. Two years ago, in March 2017, Mark Ein and Fred Leddy bought a majority stake in the six-team league for an unknown amount.
“They needed a little bit of help and reinvigoration,” said Silva, who played tennis as a student at Boston College and for a satellite tour in Canada. “They presented the opportunity to me. You don’t get a chance too often in our sports and media careers to not only do something we love, but do it with a sport that was everything to me growing up.”
Carlos Silva most recently was CEO of the Professional Fighters League.professional fighters league
Silva replaces Chris Renner, who was named the league’s CEO just six months ago, on July 16. In an interview with Sports Business Journal last July, Renner — who had replaced Ilana Kloss, who had held that title since 2001 — said he had initial reservations about joining the league but planned to grow it by lengthening its season from three weeks and producing digital programming around the players.
World TeamTennis did not use a search firm. Ein and Silva grew up in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., and have known each other for a long time.
Silva says his plans for growth start with expansion. He wants to grow the league from six teams to eight at first, with a second round of expansion taking the league to 12 teams.
“You have to expand beyond the six cities that we’re in now,” Silva said. “There’s real opportunities and a lot of interest from owners and from cities to do that. That’s top of my list.”
Silva also sees a lot of growth potential in digital media, particularly around streaming matches live.
“The World TeamTennis format is great. It’s short, with each set taking 15 to 30 minutes,” he said. “That makes for a great digital package. It’s a great snack. The way we bring data and features and gamification to the league is a short-term opportunity.”
Silva will oversee a staff of around 10 in two offices — one in his hometown of Washington and one in southern California. He will report to the World TeamTennis board.
Silva has had a long career running sports leagues and sports media companies. He has spent the past four years as CEO of the Professional Fighters League and oversaw that MMA group’s rebrand from the World Series of Fighting in 2017. Previously, he was president and COO of Universal Sports Network, president and CEO of Back9Network and a senior vice president at AOL Time Warner who oversaw the development of AOL Sports. He is a board adviser for the investment bank Park Lane.
