Agassi Sports Entertainment Bulks Up Team with New Appointment

Over the past few months, Agassi Sports Entertainment has continued to grow its team with some of the top leaders in the industry as interest grows in the specifics on what the group’s first projects will be.

The latest industry juggernaut announced this week is George Mackin, who brings decades of experience building, operating, and monetizing sports media platforms, live events, and technology-enabled businesses within the global tennis industry.

Mackin has an illustrious career that includes building a successful media representation company that he sold in 1998. In 2002, he invested in and became a managing partner of Tennis Media Company, where he ultimately led the sale of the business to Sinclair Broadcast Group in 2017.

One of his biggest contributions to tennis comes from his work In 2004 to lead an investor group which bought out IMG's ownership in the Indian Wells Masters Series Tennis Tournament, now known as the BNP Paribas Open. At the time, the tournament faced potential relocation, but Mackin was able to stabilize and recapitalize the event and leveraged Tennis Media Company's media assets to grow revenues and strengthen the brand across ticketing, sponsorship, hospitality, retail, and food and beverage. The tournament was later sold to Larry Ellison in 2009. 

At Agassi Sports Entertainment, Mackin will advise the Company on media strategy, brand development, event growth, athlete partnerships, and sports technology initiatives as ASE continues to work to build an integrated platform across racquet sports.

“I look forward to working with the Agassi Sports Entertainment team to help grow the Company's platforms, relevance, and long-term position across racquet sports,” said Mackin. “I have spent much of my career building media, event, and technology businesses within tennis, and the opportunity to apply that experience alongside what I believe can become an iconic brand is very compelling.”

“George is one of the most accomplished operators in the racquet sports industry,” said Ronald Boreta, CEO of Agassi Sports Entertainment. “He has built and sold leading media businesses, successfully owned and scaled one of the world's premier tournaments, and has consistently demonstrated an ability to create long-term value. His experience and perspective align closely with our strategy, and we are pleased to welcome him as a strategic consultant.”

Agassi Sports Entertainment is building a world-class team with the potential to help shape the racket sports industry through entertainment, content, media, and technology. It will be interesting to see how their already announced partnerships with Joola and IBM begin to materialize. These first partnerships will give insight into where they think the most profitable parts of the industry are.