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Jamie Cunningham
Sports Entrepreneur / Founder & Executive Director
Jamie Cunningham is a prominent figure in the sports business industry and the Founder & Executive Director of ONETOWATCH. He has a diverse background in sports marketing and entrepreneurship.12
Career Highlights
Jamie Cunningham's career in sports business began with his training at IMG under Mark McCormack, which laid the foundation for his future endeavors.1 Following this experience, he founded Professional Sports Group (PSG), a leading international sports marketing agency, driven by his passion for sports and the business aspects of the industry.12
In June 2023, Cunningham announced that he had joined ONETOWATCH as an advisor.3 He later assumed the role of Founder and Executive Director at ONETOWATCH, while maintaining his position as CEO and Founder of Professional Sports Group.4
Entrepreneurial Ventures
Professional Sports Group (PSG): Cunningham founded PSG and served as its CEO from 1995 to 2023.4 The company has established itself as a significant player in the international sports marketing landscape.
ONETOWATCH: In addition to his role at PSG, Cunningham launched ONETOWATCH, which appears to be a content-focused arm of his business ventures. When discussing the launch of ONETOWATCH, he described it as "a start-up style agency who live and breathe digital, social".5
Personal Background
Jamie Cunningham describes himself as "Made in Glasgow, polished in Dorset/Edinburgh, trained by Uncle Mark".6 This suggests a Scottish origin with formative experiences in various parts of the UK. His reference to "Uncle Mark" likely alludes to his mentor, Mark McCormack of IMG.
Cunningham's passion for sports is deeply rooted, as he mentions that growing up, his TV lounge often felt like a miniature stadium.3 This early exposure to sports likely influenced his career path and business focus.
In summary, Jamie Cunningham is a seasoned sports business professional with a strong entrepreneurial spirit, having founded and led multiple successful ventures in the sports marketing and content creation sectors.
Highlights
“SPORT AS AN ASSET CLASS” When I first joined IMG in March 1992 to pursue a career in the business of sport, my Glaswegian father was not that happy. A talented accountant who left school at 17 and ran the local shipyard by 23, Norman had pursued a highly successful global career in business. For him, sport was a passion, but a commercial side-show. Ironically, like many other top businessmen, he had lost money from a couple of sports investment where he had backed sporting friends. These type of decisions reflect the hit-and-miss historical investment model of sport: investing in your passion needs industry knowledge, the right team….and the right plan. During my time in sport, I have seen many great business execs make poor investment decisions. Over the last 30 years, sports investment has become an industry, led by many North American pioneer investors, including IMG’s founder Mark McCormack, alongside some incredible international PE & VC funds - and some high-net-worth investors. Sport today is an asset class. Covid helped. It reminded us how much the planet loves and needs sport. As an investment proposition, sport has several core verticals: Consumer, Content, Data, Education, Health, Real Estate, Rights and Technology. At ONETOWATCH, we live and breathe sport as an asset class. We are en route to launching our first VC fund - The 1TW Sports Fund - in Q1 2024. We are also working with select partners offering a strategic advisory and investment service. With a world class advisory team and a truly global network of partners, we aim to be one of the leading EMEAA sports investment specialists. If you are interested to know more or join us on the journey, reach out - or even better let’s connect at the Leaders in Sport Summit in London this week, the FII 7th Edition (Riyadh October 24-26) or Abu Dhabi Finance Week (November 27-30) #1TW #SPORTSINVESTMENT #PRESSPLAY
Congrats to all the shortlisted entrants of the Leaders Sports Awards. See you all on October 17th.
Unlucky to those who missed the cut….There are many really good entries who did not make it through - use it to fuel an even better entry for 2024!
Shortlists here: https://bit.ly/443M1x5
#LSA2023 Leaders in Sport
