This week in the sports media and marketing ecosystem, the NFL’s branding guru Jaime Weston joins Universal Music as EVP of Marketing, Snap finds two execs to replace its Chief Strategy Officer, and NBC Sports Washington hires all three of subscription site Sports Capitol’s founders.
For job openings and more on who’s moving where, check out the Hashtag Sports Weekly roundup.
The Universal Music Group announced the hiring of Jaime Weston, who is set to fill the newly-created role of executive vp of consumer marketing. Weston will use her previous strategy experience to oversee targeted marketing strategies across the entire business and build marketing initiatives for the label’s artists. The moves comes after the music giant has formed several marketing partnerships in and around sports in recent months, including creating a record label for the ESL and forging a fan engagement deal between Def Jam and the New York Jets.
In the lead up to NFL Media’s LA Stadium move in 2021, they’ve hired former PAC-12 Network senior vp of production and digital content, Leon Schweir. During his time with the company, Schweir oversaw over 800 live events, and was part of PAC-12 Network’s original launch team. As vp of broadcasting operations, Schweir will help NFL Media plan for its new facilities in addition to managing the studio and remote operations, production, and technology teams.
Snap’s settled on two executives to fill the role vacated by Imran Khan (No. 2 at Snap behind CEO Evan Spiegel) who announced his departure from the company last month. Jeremi Gorman and Jared Grusd will come in, splitting Khan’s responsibilities. Gorman, head of global ad sales at Amazon, is taking over the company’s ad business as chief business officer. Grusd’s making the shift from Huffington Post CEO, to chief strategy officer at Snap, and will handle all content and partnership development. This is the company’s third major hire from Amazon in the past year, an interesting note.
Earlier this year, Todd Dybas, Brian McNally and Ben Standig launched the Sports Capitol. The three veteran Washington sportswriters built up the subscription-based website without venture capital backing, unlike The Athletic, who launched its D.C. vertical this fall. Now, NBC Sports Washington (who’s scaling up its sports coverage), is hiring all three of them. The Sports Capitol is closing, which Dybas, McNally and Standig claim has less to do with The Athletic entering the D.C. market (and scoring $40M in new investment), and more to do with a “really good opportunity.”
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