Sportico Transactions April 15: Moves and Mergers Roundup

Sportico'sTransactions wire is a weekly rundown of personnel, partnerships and purchases across the sports business industry.

FIFA appoints Romy Gai as its new Chief Business Officer. He replaces Kay Madati, who will leave the organization in the coming months for personal reasons. Maditi will remain on board until the end of June 2022 to manage the transition period.

Excel Sports Management has added three executives to its management team. Will Petok joins as senior manager, media talent. Brody Mankus will be a senior management or corporate partnerships. Ethan Back comes onboard as associate corporate counsel.

M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment North America has launched an events and experiential production division led by Amanda Dawson. Dawson will oversee the creation of one-to-one moments, large-scale consumer engagement opportunities and everything in between.

Kristen Hines has been appointed as Activision Blizzard's chief diversity, equity, and inclusion officer. She will report to Julie Hodges, chief people officer, effective Monday, April 25. Hine joins from Accenture where she most recently led the Global Inclusion, Diversity and Equity practice and sat on the firm's global leadership team for the CEO Transformation practice.

Sportico Transactions April 15: Moves and Mergers Roundup. Heir, the personalized Web 3.0 community platform for athletes and fans, has hired Azza Elsheikh as head of product, Norman Cheng as the head-of-engineering and Brian Davison as vice president of partnerships.

Anheuser-Busch's has created the National Recycling League to reduce waste on game day. More than 10 MLB teams have signed on as inaugural members of the league. The company plans to repeat the program during the 2022 NFL season.

IMG has been appointed as the Global Master Licensee of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023. IMG will develop an extensive range of merchandising products featuring the event logo, its brand identity and marks. The World Championship takes place from August 25-September 10, 20th in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines.

OnePlan has raised an additional $5.3M from Pembroke VCT and Eppes Creek Ventures. OnePlan is the Official Supporter of GIS Mapping and Digital Twin Software for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

A Shoc Energy raised $29 million in a Series B round. The round included participation from Bryson DeChambeau, Aaron Judge, Brooks Koepka, Freddie Freeman, Chase Young, Paul Rodriguez, Lexi Thompson, and Michael Strahan.

Athletes Unlimited has become the first professional sports league to organize as a public benefit corporation. The Beard Club has partnered with NBA star James Harden as an investor and brand champion. The company delivers a curated toolkit of premium, beard-first men's grooming essentials.

PointsBet Canada and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment have agreed to a new multi-year agreement. PointsBet will become an Official Sports Betting Partner of MLSE's professional teams: Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL), Toronto Marlies (AHL, NBA, Toronto Raptors (NBA), and Toronto FC (MLS).

Block Sports partners with Premier Rugby Sevens. The partnership is the first of its kind for a U.S.-based sports league. Blok Sports is backed by several sports-tech investors, including NFL legends Marshawn Lynch and Andre Reed.