TLA Worldwide plc

TLA Worldwide plc (AIM: TLA) (“TLA” or the “Company”), the athlete representation and sports marketing business, has signed up Trey Burke, as its first basketball client, to exclusively manage his off-the-court endeavors. This takes TLA’s client roster to over 390.

TLA Worldwide plc (AIM: TLA) (“TLA” or the “Company”), the athlete representation and sports marketing business, has signed up Kerri Walsh Jennings, the three-time Olympic beach volleyball gold medallist.

Kerri will be represented by TLA‘s Talent Marketing division, which includes other Olympians such as Lolo Jones, Trey Hardee, and J.R. Celski, as well as a vast array of other professional sportsmen and women.

Several years after his retirement from the NFL, Deion Sanders is one of the most talked about football players of Super Bowl XLVII thanks to the NFL Network’s surprise Super Bowl ad “Leon Sandcastle.” It stars the always animated Deion Sanders who is inspired to work out at the NFL combine after hearing his colleagues rain down praise on the “more dominant than ever” rookies. Sanders reinvents his image with an unkempt afro and bushy mustache in order to conceal his true identity, and participates in the NFL combine under the moniker “Leon Sandcastle.”

TLA shortlisted for QCA IPO of the year

Download the interview mp3 (10.9 MB)

The Legacy Agency (TLA) has acquired the business and assets of Peter E. Greenberg and Associates (PEG), which will enhance TLA’s baseball division by providing a better connection to Latin America and Japan. The transaction happens to be a perfect match between two companies that have a favorable reputation in the baseball industry.

TLA is known for a very strong domestic baseball practice, with agent Greg Genske at the helm. In 2012, he represented 5 players selected in the first round (plus supplemental first) of the MLB Rule 4 Draft, including the #4 overall pick from Louisiana State, Kevin Gausman (drafted by the Baltimore Orioles). Noticeably absent from the MLB Draft advisor/player list is Peter Greenberg’s name, but for a good reason. Since he focuses on the representation of foreign born players, he is concerned with driving up the price of their free agent deals (said players are not subject to the MLB Rule 4 Draft).

While casual baseball fans may think of Scott Boras or CAA Sports when they think agents, a deal announced Monday may have far reaching implications on the balance of power for the baseball talent business going forward, especially when reaching into the emerging talent pools of Asia and Latin America.

The Legacy Agency, formed early last year when the Agency sports management group merged with baseball representatives the Legacy Group, announced that it had acquired the assets of one of the strongest agencies in Latin America, and one of the fastest growing groups in Asia, New York-based Peter Greenberg Associates.

The joining of forces makes the Legacy Agency one of the largest in terms of baseball players (over 150 Major and Minor Leaguers, including 23 All-Stars and big contract stars like Jose Reyes, Johan Santana and CC Sabathia) and presents an interesting combination of athlete representation across the board, but especially in the baseball world.

“We are delighted to have made this strategic acquisition, which cements our position as a market leader in baseball representation,” Legacy CEO Mike Principe, who previously had held senior management positions with BEST and SFX before taking over last year, said in a statement.

The Legacy Agency is acquiring Peter Greenberg & Associates, a baseball player representation practice that represents 20 major leaguers, including stars Johan Santana and Jose Reyes. The deal marks the first significant acquisition since the agency was formed late last year.

Combining the practice of agents Peter Greenberg and his brother Edward Greenberg with The Legacy Agency’s existing clients will create an agency representing 60 Major League Baseball players, 23 of them all-stars, and about 70 minor league baseball clients.

“We have always planned on creating a market leader in baseball,” said Michael Principe, CEO of The Legacy Agency. TLA was formed in January when sports marketing firm The Agency was merged with MLB player representation firm Legacy Sports. Peter and Edward Greenberg will join as principals and will work alongside TLA’s baseball agents and principals Greg Genske, Scott Parker and Brian Peters. All will report to Principe.

The Legacy Agency and Peter Greenberg & Associates have joined forces to form one of the bigger agencies in baseball, one with offices on both coasts and strongholds in many countries.

In a deal announced Monday, TLA bought the Greenberg company. The newly-formed group will represent more than 60 major leaguers (including 23 All-Stars) and 70 minor leaguers.

Legacy CEO Mike Principe will lead The Legacy Agency, with baseball principals Greg Genske, Brian Peters and Scott Parker from Legacy plus Peter and Ed Greenberg coming from the New York-based-Greenberg group.

The head office will be in New York, with an office in Newport Beach, where Genske, a lawyer who took over Jeff Moorad’s old business, is based. Peters is based in Houston and Parker in San Francisco.

TLA Worldwide plc (AIM: TLA) (“TLA” or the “Company”), the athlete representation and sports marketing business, is pleased to announce that four of its clients are taking part in this year’s TOUR Championship – Jim Furyk, Robert Garrigus, John Senden and John Huh, who is the only Rookie to qualify for the TOUR Championship. This tournament is an end of season playoff for the best 30 players on the PGA TOUR. This is the highest number of competing clients TLA’s golf division has had, sharing the lead with one other company for the most players represented.

This achievement marks a great end for the season, in which TLA signed PGA TOUR standouts, Jeff Overton and John Huh as new clients and saw over 30 top-10 PGA TOUR finishes from our entire roster of professionals. We are also delighted to report that Jim Furyk was selected as one of Team Captain’s Davis Love III’s picks for his eighth consecutive Ryder Cup.

Since flotation, TLA has selectively increased its roster of PGA TOUR professionals by 30% which, coupled with our clients’ strong play, we expect to have a positive revenue impact in 2013 and beyond.

TLA CEO Mike Principe commented, “We are thrilled at the success of our golf division, which continues to go from strength to strength. In a business where success breeds success, the achievements and increased marketability of our clients will have a beneficial effect on our ability to attract and recruit other quality players and drive future revenue.”

Largest Broadcasting Deal in MLB History Keeps Baseball on ESPN Through 2021 ESPN Returns to MLB Postseason with One Wild Card Game Per Season and; Increases Ancillary Baseball Coverage Across All ESPN Platforms

Major League Baseball collects an average of $711 million every year from ESPN, Fox and Turner. It wants more, and in coming negotiations for deals that start after the 2013 season, it should get it.

The evolving television landscape provides the rationale.

TLA WORLDWIDE (TLA): TLA is the American business that represents sports stars, negotiating deals on their behalf and taking a cut of their earnings. It is focussed on baseball and, following last year’s merger of Legacy Sports Group with Agency Sports Management it is able to offer a complete service, negotiating players’ salaries and also their off-field endorsements and appearances. The merger has gone well and 2011 results were ahead of forecasts. For 2012 broker Cenkos is forecasting earnings per share of 2.5p, placing the shares on a PE ratio about 9. That looks cheap so BUY UP TO 25p.

Baseball marketing and representation group TLA Worldwide (TLA) delivered a loss of $3.2m (£2m) as it released its maiden results following last year’s IPO.

The AIM newcomer — which joined the junior market last December in an IPO that raised £12m at a price of 20p a share — reported the loss on results that covered a mere 23 days of trading from the date of its IPO last year until the end of 2011, with the loss reflecting the limited period of trading.

According to the AIM-listed company there is a focused effort on expanding baseball marketing to Latin America and making inroads in Asia.

In an interview with Growth Company Investor, chief executive Mark Principe indicated that the group has plans to introduce Major League Baseball to continental Europe.

He reiterated the importance of the established American baseball market, worth $7bn, and its inherently fragmented nature, which provides opportunities for growth and expansion. Contracted revenues are already 79% of market expectations of total revenue of $14.9m for 2012. Significant shareholders include Octopus Investments at 9% and ISIS at 13.9%.

Analysts at house broker Cenkos are forecasting a pre-tax profit of $6.6m on sales of $14.9m for the year to December 2012. A dividend of 0.6p a share is also pencilled in.

The company maintains strong on-field professional baseball fundamentals and has negotiated more than $100m of contracts for its 21 new clients in addition to 13 established ones. One of the more unusual companies on the junior market, the shares are a buy.

In a sign that MLB is economically stable and that changes in the latest CBA should allow that prosperity to continue, Fitch Ratings has announced that it has increased Major League Baseball’s Club Trust Securitization’s $300 million to its senior secured credit facility ‘A-’. Additionally, Fitch has affirmed the ‘A-’ rating on the outstanding $842 million term notes (series 1–7 maturing through 2021) and the outstanding senior secured credit facility ($500 million total including the $300 million increase). Fitch gave its Rating Outlook as “Stable.”

Fitch gave several reasons for the ratings increase, which bodes well for MLB’s overall economic health:

Since its AIM flotation in December TLA has added to both its client and agent roster and negotiated over $100 million of additional off-season playing contracts for its baseball clients. This brings the total of the Company’s guaranteed baseball client contracts under management to more than $520m.

Mike Principe interviewed about LA Dodgers recent acquisition for $2.1bn

Rick Horrow and guests preview the 2012 Masters, break down the sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and discuss the growth of social media as a part of March Madness.

Since its AIM flotation in December TLA has added to both its client and agent roster and negotiated over $100 million of additional off-season playing contracts for its baseball clients. This brings the total of the Company’s guaranteed baseball client contracts under management to more than $520m. TLA has signed a number of new baseball, coaching and talent marketing deals, negotiated new broadcasting deals for existing clients, and negotiated commercial agreements with brands such as Proctor & Gamble and BP. During last month’s Super Bowl, TLA secured over 60 talent appearances, including commercial opportunities for 15 of its clients, and is now securing talent endorsements in connection with this summer’s Olympic Games.

Cable companies’ lust for live baseball programming drove team values 16% higher during the past year, to an average all-time record of $605 million. The Yankees are worth the most: $1.85 billion.

Legacy Sports Group, the baseball player representation firm run by prominent MLB player agent Greg Genske, has merged with athlete marketing company The Agency, run by veteran agent Jordan Bazant. The merged company is known as The Legacy Agency, and its CEO is industry veteran Mike Principe, who helped create the former SFX Sports and Blue Entertainment Sports Television.

A new agency formed late last year is looking to shake up Major League Baseball (MLB), the US competition that generated $7 billion in gross revenues in 2011 and is guaranteed labour peace until at least 2016.

Formed following the merger of athlete representation outfit Legacy Sports Group, run by baseball played agent Greg Genske, and marketing and management company The Agency Sports Management, TLA (The Legacy Agency) is listed on the London Stock Exchange and has a 250-person client base including 13 MLB All Stars.

It is against this strong industry background that TLA Worldwide has been created to bring together LS Legacy Sports Group and The Agency Sports Management. The two make an ideal combination. While LS Legacy represents players in contract negotiations with the clubs, The Agency focusses on exploiting their brand potential. In their own right these two businesses are already highly successful. But, with the chance to cross-sell services, they should become even more so.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — The agency that recently secured New York Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia a new nine-figure contract is now part of a listed company. Its stock is traded in London.

A merger between two sports agencies has seen the creation of a new outfit that will focus on baseball player contracts and the marketing of current and former stars from across the sports world.

The NFL season is now closed, so we move on to the business of baseball. One recent development on the business side involved the merger of two prominent agencies, The Legacy Group, which handles the on-field and contract management for such stars as CC Sabathia of the Yankees and Carl Crawford of the Red Sox among many others, with The Agency, one of the more established off-field athlete marketing businesses known for their work with retired athletes like Steve Young and Troy Aikman, golfers like Jim Furyk, coaches like Notre Dame’s Mike Brey, and others. The result is a more full service agency, called The Legacy Agency, which will be overseen by longtime sports marketing executive Mike Principe.

Legacy Sports Group, a leading baseball representation business, and The Agency Sports Management, a leading full-service independent marketing and management company, have announced the merger of their two firms into TLA Worldwide, the athlete representation and sports marketing business, to form The Legacy Agency, Inc.

Baseball representation agency Legacy Sports Group has merged with The Agency Sports Management into TLA Worldwide, forming a new company called The Legacy Agency (TLA).

A statement released by the principals of both companies said that TLA “intends to become the pre-eminent, fully integrated representation and marketing services agency with an on-field focus on professional baseball”.

Legacy Sports Group, the baseball player representation firm run by prominent MLB player agent Greg Genske, has merged with athlete marketing company The Agency, run by veteran agent Jordan Bazant. The merged company is known as The Legacy Agency, and its CEO is industry veteran Mike Principe, who helped create the former SFX Sports and Blue Entertainment Sports Television.

Legacy Sports Group (Legacy), a baseball representation business, and The Agency Sports Management (The Agency), a full-service marketing firm are merging to make TLA Worldwide, plc, an athlete representation and sports marketing business.

Legacy Sports Group (“Legacy”), a leading baseball representation business, and The Agency Sports Management (“The Agency”), a leading full-service independent marketing and management company, announced today the merger of their two firms into TLA Worldwide, plc, the athlete representation and sports marketing business, to form The Legacy Agency, Inc. (“TLA”).

AIM newcomer TLA Worldwide (TLA) has been formed to target the US baseball market.

Major League Baseball (MLB) is a hugely lucrative industry, with estimates pointing to annual revenues last year of a record $7 billion — twice that of 1999. Total attendances of 73 million have been on the increase, largely driven by increasing awareness and sponsorship.

TLA was co-founded by chief executive Mike Principe, a US lawyer and former head of Blue Entertainment, a sports marketing group he built through acquisition. Non-executive chairman Bart Campbell was the driving force of former AIM-listed sports agent Essentially. It was acquired by Chime Communications, and he now heads up its sports marketing arm.