NEW YORK: WME Sports Wednesday announced the hire of sports executive Joe Januszewski as SVP and Division head to lead its full-service global property solutions team, which delivers naming rights deals, premium hospitality offerings and suite sales strategies for the world’s leading sports teams, leagues and organizations.
Januszewski was most recently executive vice-president, chief revenue and marketing officer for the Major League Baseball franchise Texas Rangers, where he was crucial to the development of the Rangers’ new $1.2 billion retractable-roof ballpark, Globe Life Field. Januszewski had oversight of ballpark naming rights, all partnerships, premium and ticket sales, as well as marketing and business analytics for the ballclub.
Alongside the development of the new ballpark, Januszewski’s team managed all partnerships around the recently developed $250 million entertainment district, Texas Live! During his ten-year tenure with the Rangers, Joe and his teams grew both partnership and ticketing revenue to franchise high water marks with more than three figure percentage growth in each department. Prior to the Rangers, Joe held senior business roles at the Boston Red Sox/Fenway Sports Group and the San Diego Padres.
“Joe is a strategic executive uniquely capable of delivering bespoke solutions on a global scale,” said Karen Brodkin, co-head of WME Sports and EVP of Content Strategy and Development at Endeavor. “He and his team will collaborate closely with Endeavor Analytics, On Location, 160over90, IMG’s media and events business and WME more broadly to bring the full power of the Endeavor network to bear for our clients as we continue to invest in becoming the industry standard for property representation.”
“I have been so impressed with the people and properties Endeavor leadership has brought on board the past few years,” said Januszewski. “There is tremendous opportunity both domestically and globally in the professional sports space. I am looking forward to diving into the market head first and helping WME Sports to grow and win. I cannot wait to get started.”
Januszewski starts his position at WME Sports on August 30.
WME Sports has worked with teams including the Denver Broncos, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Atlanta Hawks on premium asset sales.
