The chief executive of Volleyball World has described his organisation’s integration into CVC Capital Partners’ Global Sport Group as an “immediate win”.
The private equity giants who count the Six Nations, LaLiga, Prem Rugby, and Ligue 1 as part of their sporting portfolio have pooled their assets into one mega sport fund chaired by former EE chief Marc Allera.
The $14bn fund is understood to be, in part, a shopping window for potential Gulf sovereign wealth engagement in the future.
And the new chief of Volleyball World, former Grand Slam Board figure Ugo Valensi, can see the upsides to being part of the CVC Global Sport Group (GSG).
Immediate win
“They’ve hired advisers and people working with them that can be a support for us,” he tells City AM. “So I see an immediate proof of that on the marketing side, all of our CMOs and digital officers from all the different sports participating in GSG are connecting really closely.
“CVC organised a workshop last week to brainstorm ideas together. On the commercial side it is probably more complicated, because we are intrinsically different beasts. Other sports, which are more domestic, especially on the football or rugby side, are overly reliant on media.
“We’re quite different because we are a very diversified business between hosting major events, sponsorship, media and betting.”
Volleyball World is a joint venture between the sport’s governing FIVB body and CVC Capital Partners. Valensi says he has used his three months in the job to confirm women’s and men’s world championships in the United States, Qatar and Philippines, and says he will look at the sport through an increasingly more important Asian lens given the development of volleyball fandom on the continent.
CVC x Volleyball World
“We clearly have lots to do to help others [in GSG] build their social media and digital strategies,” Valensi adds. “But on the other hand, there’s plenty that the other sports organisations are probably doing it in a different way than we are doing. So I think I see that as an immediate win for all parties.”
The former Sportfive marketing agency – a business he sold to private equity firm H.I.G Capital in 2020 – chief executive says it is “clear” that CVC Capital Partners’ investment in volleyball was a good one, adding that the opportunities for the sport will only see it grow. Valensi does, however, confirm that there are no immediate plans to bring volleyball to London given the popularity of the sport in other markets.
“I see that there’s clearly bridges between the different organisations, but probably more on the marketing side and support functions, and probably a bit less on the revenue generation side,” he concludes on the Global Sport Group.