MUMBAI: The former president of ESPN, John Skipper, has been hired as the executive chairman of sports media company Perform Group. Skipper left ESPN in December 2017.
Less than six months after his departure from ESPN, Skipper will soon be competing against his former long-time employer. Skipper was with ESPN for over 20 years and was president for six.
The Perform Group is based in London with offices around the world. Perform currently owns and manages 10 D2C properties worldwide that reach more than 170 million fans per month with Goal.com being its largest property with nearly 100 million users per month as well as other strategic, long-term partnerships with the NFL, FIBA, WTA and CONMEBOL.
“Perform Group’s platform and expertise, coupled with its success in launching subscription services in Germany, Japan and Canada, provides a model we intend to replicate around the world,” Skipper has said.
Skipper’s appointment stated that he would oversee all of Perform’s operations and strategy but both his statement and that of Simon Denyer, the founder and chief executive of Perform, implied that Skipper would be focusing on DAZN.
Recently, Perform Group and NBA have announced a multi-year partnership that will see Perform manage the league’s official websites in more than 15 international markets, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, India, Japan, Mexico and Spain.
DAZN, pronounced 'Da Zone,' has been compared to Netflix. Available in five countries—Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan and Canada—DAZN gives sports fans access to thousands of live sports events for a monthly subscription fee, usually around $20 (Rs 1345).
Perform has not yet announced which countries will be next as part of that global rollout but it is unlikely that Skipper will soon be engaged in bidding wars against his former company. Most American sports rights are unavailable to be bought for several years.
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