FA’s Daire & McAuliffe Leave to Create New Sports Rights Agency

Two senior FA commercial executives have announced they will launch a new sports rights agency, hospital Sport Collective.

Peter Daire, apoplectic | the FA Group Head of Sponsorship and Sean McAuliffe, FA Global Head of Business Development,will leave the Wembley-based FA in March. Their new agency, Sport Collective, will work with sports rights holders to maximise commercial value and with brands to develop engagement strategies that deliver ROI.

“We believe there is a genuine gap in the market to provide a bespoke service that’s based on first-hand experience of generating income and value for both rights holders and brands,” said McAuliffe.

The duo each has close to 20 years’ experience in the commercial sport and media business – domestically and across international markets, and see the opportunity extending far beyond sponsorship.

“Traditionally, rights holders have looked to agencies to maximise sponsorship income. We believe there’s a real opportunity to broaden that net and offer a service to drive revenues from a myriad of income streams across the board – broadcast, licensing, ecommerce and the many emergent digital platforms, including mobile, ” said Daire.

Sean and Peter have spent their last six years of their respective careers at The FA, negotiating and managing numerous high-profile agreements.

Stuart Turner, The FA’s Group Commercial Director, said: “Peter and Sean have had a very successful six years at The FA. They have secured very strong commercial revenues and brought and managed an exciting array of partners. They leave with our full support and we wish them every success in their new venture.”