Browsing: CEO

Football

Baller League CEO Felix Starck assesses success of brand before season two

Baller League may be doing many things right. After starting out in Germany in 2023, it expanded to the UK and is preparing to launch in the USA.

But Starck conceded there is “room for improvement in every department”.

Several incidents of violence marred the opening UK season, with manager AngryGinge left with scratch marks on his neck following a fight between players from SDS and Yanited during matchday seven.

The Yanited manager later said he had been “gripped up and kicked” while in the middle of a melee on the pitch.

That incident came a week after former Premier League defender Joleon Lescott, who appeared as a guest player, was almost wrestled over the advertising hoardings during an altercation with Wembley Rangers’ Domingos Pires.

On matchday five, Troy Deeney was sent off for charging into a player from FC Rules the World with his forearm raised.

“We’re a very soft society these days but this is sport, this is emotion,” Starck said.

“If two roosters get in a room they are going to fight and we have 250 roosters, so they are going to fight.

“We had whole talks [after incidents], we don’t discuss publicly what we did but we took measures to make sure things like this don’t happen again.”

Unlike the Premier League, Baller League is not regulated by a governing body and therefore sanctions are processed by its internal disciplinary commission.

Baller League took action after tensions boiled over again on the penultimate matchday of the regular season, when Trebol FC’s Amine Sassi appeared to kick an opponent in the head as they lay on the floor – handing out a one-match suspension.

“Baller League upholds a strict zero-tolerance policy for this kind of behaviour and will continue to enforce it consistently,” the organisation posted at the time., external

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Former WWE CEO Vince McMahon Scores Massive Legal Win

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Business mogul and former WWE CEO Vince McMahon has won a legal battle.

Vince McMahon was charged with one count of reckless driving and one count of following too closely, resulting in a motor accident over the summer. However, police confirmed everyone was wearing their seatbelts, and so no one sustained any injuries.

As reported by TMZ, McMahon was given the opportunity to have the charges against him dropped in a year by participating in a special program where he had to meet some conditions. A Stamford judge allowed the former WWE Chairman into an accelerated pre-trial rehabilitation program that would ensure that if McMahon kept his nose clean, donated $1,000 to charity, and adhered to driving lawfully, his case would be tossed out in October 2026.

Former WWE CEO Vince McMahon’s Attorney Calls The Outcome “Good News”

Vince McMahon appeared in court for the proceedings, wearing a navy suit and white shirt. He did not speak. McMahon’s attorney, Mark Sherman, told TMZ, “It was good news.” Sherman further noted, “Not every car accident is a crime, and the judge agreed that he deserved this dismissal, and we’re grateful for that.”

Vince McMahon Celebrated His 80th Birthday In August; Major WWE Names Attended The Party

Vince McMahon turned 80 on August 24. As per PWInsider, major names such as Kane, The Undertaker, John Cena, Gerald Brisco, Michelle McCool, Bruce Prichard, JBL, Sgt. Slaughter, Shane McMahon, Sheamus, and Ron Killings (R-Truth), among others, were in attendance for McMahon’s party.

Meanwhile, Brock Lesnar, who was named in former WWE employee Janel Grant’s lawsuit against McMahon, has returned to WWE. He resurfaced at SummerSlam, before destroying John Cena at Wrestlepalooza, World Wrestling Entertainment’s debut show on ESPN. It remains to be seen how the former UFC fighter will get booked going forward. Furthermore, what will be the fate of Vince McMahon? Only time will tell.

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Golf

Q&A with PGA CEO Derek Sprague on Ryder Cup fans, Bethpage’s future

One of the most contentious and unsavory Ryder Cups has given way to predictable handwringing over fan behavior last week at Bethpage Black, where members of Team Europe endured days of relentless ridicule and vocal abuse.

PGA of America CEO Derek Sprague agreed to an interview Tuesday with GolfChannel.com to address fan behavior and the future of Bethpage as a major championship venue (transcript below, edited slightly for clarity; video above):

Golf Channel: I spoke with a PGA member this morning who told me he was disgusted with some fan behavior at Bethpage, what do you tell your membership about what happened?

Derek Sprague: Certainly, it’s not the values of the PGA of America or our 30,000 PGA golf professionals who work every day in this game to bring joy and laughter and fun to golf. Certainly, we did not witness that, there’s no place for that [poor fan behavior] at the Ryder Cup, no place for it in the game of golf and we are not happy with what happened last week.

GC: What was the plan for crowd control and how did it evolve?

DS: We’ve been planning for a number of years going into this event, like we do for all our major championships. Planning with law enforcement and other security agencies and we certainly did this at Bethpage. We knew the Ryder Cup is the biggest event in golf and transcends many sports. We worked closely with the New York State Police, they were the lead agency and then we had several layers of security including private security companies to deal with the amount of fans which is typical of a Ryder Cup. It’s not like we had any large increase in [fan] numbers.

We worked with them on the plan and like any live sporting event we made sure we adjusted as the days went on and we reacted to fan behavior, including removing a number of fans from the event or moving them away from players they were abusing. We dealt with it swiftly and efficiently as it was made known to us. It’s a big golf course out there and we had plenty of law enforcement with the players, both sides of the fairways and when you’re looking at a large crowd it can be challenging to identify. But when they were identified they were dealt with very quickly.

GC: Specifically, when was the call made Saturday to increase security with Rory McIlroy’s group?

DS: As the CEO I let our team deal with that in the moment, let them do their job. I have an incredible amount of trust and confidence with our security consultant team. They were working very closely with our [operations] team and the New York State Police and all the other agencies.

That’s an example of how we reacted, when we heard those things going on Saturday we immediately redirected more of the security forces to those matches, whether it was Rory’s match or other matches or fan behavior in certain parts of the golf course. On Sunday we made sure to keep that amount of security in place, made sure it was what we felt, and our security consultants felt, was the right amount of people to make sure that, one, the players were safe and the fans would be dealt with swiftly if they got out of line.

GC: Bethpage will host the 2033 PGA Championship, based on what happened last week is there any thought of moving that championship?

DS: There’s no thought of that. Bethpage Black is just a great championship layout. We will take all our debriefs from this week, everything from logistics – we were not perfect on logistics, either – and we will be looking at that as well for the next two championships over the next eight years as well as making sure that we have the right plans in place.

That’s one thing that I think we do well, we learn from this event like we learn from all of our events. We try to make the next PGA Championship or the next Ryder Cup the best it’s ever been. That’s what we intend to do here and carry what we learned from this past week into those championships going forward.

GC: Does the PGA take any responsibility for the pre-event messaging that the crowds were going to be large, loud and difficult for the European team?

DS: We take responsibility for the fan behavior, but New York fans, we knew going into this that they are passionate. They love their sports teams here and that’s what makes the Ryder Cup special, that they are passionate on both sides.

I’ve been to nine Ryder Cups, I’ve been to a number of them overseas as well as here. They are passionate on both sides, and certainly we had a small number of fans that crossed the line this past week, but I don’t think it’s indicative of every fan. I’ve received e-mails and text messages, fans had great experiences this week. Whether they may not have been with those particular matches in the heat of the battle that had some people cross the line. It’s been mixed, but certainly we want to improve and we know the fans are very passionate in that market. But there are no plans to change that venue, it’s a great venue.

Sprague on Ryder Cup crowd control procedures

PGA of America CEO Derek Sprague joins Golf Central to lay out the security procedures at the Ryder Cup and the responses to heckling fans throughout the event.

GC: Why is Bethpage Black, as a venue for the PGA of America, important enough to offset that fan behavior?

DS: Having five great golf courses at Bethpage, Bethpage Black obviously standing out as a championship venue, is a great example of a private-public partnership.

It has a lot of space, a lot of space for our vendors. It has a lot of space for corporate hospitality. This week we had helicopter pads on one of the golf courses, the polo field was the staging area. That’s one thing when we select sites the golf course is just one box to check, we want to make sure it’s a championship golf course, but we also have to look outside the ropes. We need a lot of space today for TV compounds, our vendors, corporate hospitality. We have a lot of infrastructure and we just need a lot of space.

That’s why Bethpage Black lends itself so well to a major championship like the PGA Championship or the KPMG Women’s PGA (2028) or last week’s Ryder Cup.

GC: Why should fans, on both sides, be confident that there won’t be similar episodes at Hazeltine in 2029?

DS: Any championship that we run, whether it’s the Ryder Cup or any of the other majors, with our partners at Ryder Cup Europe, talking with their leadership there, there is no place for this type of behavior that crosses the line.

Our discussions leading into Adare Manor in two years, we will be talking to their leadership, like we did this year. We had meetings in advance, ‘What are we going to do about the crowds?’ We explained all the protocols we had in place with the New York State Police and they had a level of confidence that it would be dealt with and we’ll do the same thing going into 2027 in Ireland to make sure we uphold the integrity and sportsmanship of the Ryder Cup. When it started in 1927 it was about sportsmanship and integrity of the game and that’s what we want it to continue to be.

It’s unfortunate that people crossed the line last week and I hope it doesn’t take away from the brilliant play of both teams that we witnessed last week.

These were the 24 best players in the world and I think they gave golf fans around the globe just an incredible event to tune into. We saw that with the ratings when the Americans were making a run on Sunday afternoon, people were tuning in. That’s what the Ryder Cup should be remembered by, unfortunately some people had a bad experience and are going to remember it for the fan behavior or the long bus lines or the traffic jam. But let’s not take away from the great play.

GC: Not sure if you had a chance to speak with any Europeans players from last week, but if you did what was your message?

DS: I talked a little to Paul McGinley last night. I haven’t spoken to Rory or Erica [McIlroy], I do plan on sending them an e-mail with my heartfelt apologies because of what occurred. There’s no place for that in the Ryder Cup or the game of golf. I heard Rory say it, we’re better than that in golf. That’s one thing our game has always portrayed when you compare us to other sports is that golf is a great game and people enjoy the game because of the values that golf has.

I can’t wait to reach out to Rory and Erica, and really the entire European team. Rory might have been a target because of how good he is, but the entire European team should not have been subjected to that. I feel badly and I plan on apologizing to them.

GC: How do you keep this from happening again?

DS: I was the co-chair of the Ryder Cup task force back when we started it in 2014. We talked about, really, the team and the captaincies and vice captains, more on the competition side, but certainly we will be doing a debrief internally with our [operations] team and all of our incredible employees with the PGA of America. The Ryder Cup committee, I’m sure, will reflect on this. That task force was designed to determine how we can put the team in the best position to be successful.

We did that in ’14, we won in ’16, we won in ’21, so I think it showed some success. I look forward to, as the new CEO, getting back on that task force or Ryder Cup committee, and see what we can do, not only to make the competition reflect the values of the Ryder Cup but also to give the American team our best chance at success.

Trump jokingly asked Rolex executives if tariffs prompted US Open invite, CEO says | Trump tariffs

Donald Trump asked Rolex executives if he would have been invited to watch this monthâ€s US Open final from the luxury watchmakerâ€s VIP box had he imposed steep tariffs on Swiss exports weeks earlier.

The US presidentâ€s remarks were made “in jestâ€, stressed Jean-Frederic Dufour, the Rolex CEO, in a letter to Elizabeth Warren, the US senator who had raised questions about the decision to invite Trump – including whether the conglomerate was seeking to “curry favor†with the administration.

Warren, a Democrat for Massachusetts, said: “Corruption is not a laughing matter.â€

Trumpâ€s 39% tariff on Swiss exports to the US – significantly higher than his 15% rate on the European Union, or 10% on the UK – threatens to pile pressure on Rolex, one of the worldâ€s leading watch manufacturers.

Dufour claimed that the invite to Trump, and other senior figures in his administration, was part of a broader focus on “the values of sport, sportsmanship and international friendshipâ€, rather than any “capitulation†to the US president. “Rolex is not, nor has it ever been, engaged in any negotiation with the US government regarding tariffs,†he wrote.

But Dufour described how Trump brought up the tariffs he had imposed on Switzerland, and Swiss exporters like Rolex, weeks earlier.

“President Trump, never one to miss a rhetorical opportunity, did ask in jest whether he would have been invited had it not been for the tariffs – a moment that brought a round of laughter all around and, as you can imagine, a swift return of attention to the unfolding excitement on court,†Dufour wrote.

“No substantive discussion†took place “regarding tariffs, trade policy, or any other official matter†during the US Open final, or since, he claimed.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“While families are getting crushed by Trumpâ€s chaotic tariffs, Donald Trump and his rich friends are laughing about tariffs in a fancy box sponsored by a luxury watch brand,†said Warren. “How much more out of touch can Trump be?â€

Trump was gifted “a golf sweater and a sports gilet†as “a token of appreciation for attending the eventâ€, said Dufour.

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Cricket

Glamorgan planning for ‘tough’ Division One, says CEO Dan Cherry

Sri Lanka seam bowler Asitha Fernando represented Glamorgan this year as an overseas player, and the county will look abroad again next season – as well as scouring the domestic market – as they aim to increase their pace options.

“We’ve been quite active in the market, albeit not with much success when it comes to fast bowlers,” said Cherry.

“But we’ve been talking to a lot of fast bowlers and it’s been really difficult here because not knowing that we’re going to be a Division One county until pretty late on has probably meant that we’ve missed out on a couple of options that we were looking at.

“But there are different ways and means of attracting that talent. Some will have Division One clauses in their contracts that if they’re not playing in Division One, that they may speak to other counties, so that is a route for us.

“Other counties use the loan market pretty effectively. And obviously overseas strategy will be really important to how we look at using overseas players to fill those gaps that we’ve got.

“We need more bowling depth to take us forward and some more pace in our attack would be helpful for us when we move up to Division One.”

With premium fast bowlers in demand, Glamorgan hope their newfound top-tier status will make them a more attractive proposition.

“It’s going to give us a huge opportunity to be more attractive to players from a recruitment perspective and also from a retention perspective,” Cherry added.

“So the best young talent that we’ve got coming through, Ben Kellaway, Asa Tribe and others, we want them to know that they can achieve all of the ambitions they want out of the game by staying at Glamorgan.

“Part of that is establishing ourselves in Division One and doing well in the future up there.”

On the subject of player retention, Cherry confirmed that Glamorgan are in talks over a new contract for batter Billy Root, whose current deal expires this year.

Kellaway and Tribe are among the players who have already committed their futures to the Welsh county.

“It’s fantastic. We’ve received some criticism, fair at times, that potentially we haven’t developed Welsh players over the last 10, 15, 20 years, but we are working really hard to do so,” said Cherry.

“Since taking over the pathway from Cricket Wales, you’re now starting to see the benefits of that.

“Ben would be a particular case in point of a young lad who’s come through the pathway, developed by Chepstow Cricket Club, Cricket Wales, Glamorgan, Cardiff UCCE and he’s now putting in fantastic performances for Glamorgan and Welsh Fire and we’re really proud of that.

“Hopefully there’s the ability now with the next batch of players we’ve got coming through – and some really exciting ones to look out for – that we can turn more of those players into the next Ben Kellaway, and we can create a real core identity of Welsh talent, mixed in with players from outside, high-quality overseas players. I think we’ve got an exciting future ahead.”

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