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League/Tournament Brands:
- Misfits Gaming has named Matt Bailey to the position of senior director of sponsorship sales and services.
- Bailey most recently served as the chief commercial officer for UK-based fan engagement, technology, and insight agency, InCrowd Sports.
- The appointment is Misfits Gaming’s first senior commercial hire in Europe and the third executive hire since July.
Misfits Gaming continues its executive hiring spree with the appointment of Matt Bailey as senior director of sponsorship sales and services. Based in London, Bailey’s appointment is Misfits’ first senior commercial team hire in Europe.
In his new role, Bailey will look for partners that will grow the Misfits brand as well as “add value to the experience of being a Misfits fan,” he told The Esports Observer, adding that, having worked on both sides of the table in sponsorship, he understands the ingredients of a successful partnership.
Prior to joining Misfits Gaming, Bailey served as the chief commercial officer for InCrowd Sports, where he worked with rights holders including the ICC, Premiership Rugby, and top-tier soccer teams to create digital products and brand engagement opportunities. Bailey also spent 11 years at IMG on a consulting team where he helped maximize commercial returns on sponsorship rights for rights holders and brands.
Jumping from traditional sports to esports will offer its own unique challenges, said Bailey, adding that he will face them by learning everything he can by immersing himself into the esports culture.
“One of the biggest misconceptions about esports in traditional sport is still that esports is an emerging, nascent industry,” said Bailey. “The reality is that esports ‘arrived’ some time ago and I know that I have so much to learn from the many people that have been behind this phenomenon, especially at a leading esports organization like Misfits.”
As esports continues to resemble traditional sports in terms of sponsorships and rightsholders, Bailey has the opportunity to bridge that gap and help educate brands about the landscape.
“The franchise system that has now been adopted by some of the major publishers is easily understood by brands investing in sponsorship rights and much of the asset inventory is directly comparable to what you would see with sports teams,” Bailey said. “The big opportunities in esports compared to traditional sports—and why I am so excited about working in esports—lie in its enthusiastic, global, digitally native, younger consumer audience and the ways in which this audience engages with content.
“Esports provides a path for brands to connect deeply with this hard-to-reach and hugely valuable demographic, and creating opportunities for Misfits’ partners to do this effectively represents a professional challenge that is hugely exciting to me.”
Bailey is the third executive hire for Misfits Gaming in the last few months. In July, Greg Stangel, former senior vice president of Fox Networks Group’s Global Solutions team, joined Misfits Gaming as chief revenue officer (CRO). Early this month, Lagen Nash, former vice president of global solutions for the FOX Networks Group, was appointed Misfits’ vice president of partnerships.
