Sports marketing agency Two Circles has acquired Sports Ink in a move that will result in Sports Ink founder Paul Williamson joining Two Circles as a full-time director.
Williamson (pictured left) served as director of ticketing at the London 2012 Olympic Games, building a commercial team and sales strategy that generated $1bn (£738m/€829m) in revenue from 11 million ticket sales.
Following the acquisition, Two Circles will take on all existing Sports Ink clients and projects, which include the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, the 2022 UEFA Women’s Euro in England, the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and the 2022 Men’s ICC T20 World Cup in Australia.
Finn Walsh has been appointed head of commercial at PTI Digital.
Walsh (pictured right) has previously worked at Premier League football clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton, Major League Soccer franchise LA Galaxy and The O2 in London. He joins PTI from Realife Tech after choosing to move away from the product side of the industry into the consultancy space.
Walsh’s appointment comes after PTI recently named Mario Zambas as its new head of venue technology in the EMEA region.
Live entertainment and ticketing company TEG has appointed Cameron Stone as its new chief technology officer.
Stone (pictured centre) previously served as chief information officer at Virgin Australia, where he delivered large-scale technology platform transformations for the airline. He has also worked as chief information officer and senior vice-president at Aurizon.
In his new role, Stone will report to Ian Ball, TEG’s chief operating officer and global head of venues. He will lead the team charged with evolving and executing the company’s technology capability and investments.
Head to our sister site TheTicketingBusiness.com for the full story.
Mark Shapiro has signed a new five-year deal to continue as president of the Toronto Blue Jays Major League Baseball team.
Shapiro joined the Blue Jays in 2015 after spending 24 seasons with the Cleveland Indians. Shapiro’s extension comes following the recent completion of extensive renovation work at the Blue Jays’ spring training complex and TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida.
In November, Rogers Communications, which owns the Blue Jays, revealed that plans to redevelop the team’s Rogers Centre ballpark are temporarily on hold amid reports that the franchise is considering a new venue on the site. Rogers reportedly engaged Brookfield Asset Management on a plan that would result in the demolition of the 49,000-seat stadium.
Mike Fordham has been named group chief executive at Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket franchise the Rajasthan Royals.
Fordham previously worked with the IMG agency, which helped launch the IPL in 2008. Fordham also worked on the development of The Hundred, the new short-form competition organised by the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
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