Jeff Moorad

Jeffrey S. Moorad is a former sports agent, as well as the former CEO and former minority owner of both the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball (MLB).

Player representation

Moorad began specializing in athlete representation in 1983. He concentrated on Major League Baseball and signed a number of athletes, including Will Clark and four other members of the United States national baseball team in the 1984 Summer Olympics. In 1985 he partnered with Leigh Steinberg, and the two would go on to work together for eighteen years and negotiate more than $3 billion in athlete contracts.[1][2] Their firm, 'Steinberg & Moorad,' represented such athletes as Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Warren Moon, Manny Ramirez, CC Sabathia, Vernon Wells, Edgerrin James, Ed Reed, Pat Burrell, Darin Erstad, Adam Dunn, Luis Gonzalez, Orlando Hernandez, Thurman Thomas, Eric Karros, Ivan Rodriguez, Mo Vaughn, Shawn Green, and Raul Mondesi, among many others.[3][4][5] 'Steinberg & Moorad' was sold in October 1999 to the Assante Corporation, a Canadian asset management firm, for a reported $120 million.[6]

Moorad was named to The Sporting News’ annual 100 Most Powerful People in Sports on eight occasions.[3]

Major League Baseball

Arizona Diamondbacks

In 2004, Moorad become an owner and CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He owned close to 12% of the team, estimated to be worth around $18 million in 2009.[7] While with Arizona, Moorad was a General Partner, Chief Executive Officer, the spokesman for the Diamondbacks’ ownership group, and oversaw the day-to-day operations of the franchise.[3]

San Diego Padres

In 2009, Moorad put together a group to buy the San Diego Padres from John Moores. Moorad and his group of 12 investors (including former client Troy Aikman, billionaire Chairman/CEO of Save Mart Supermarkets Bob Piccinini, and then-CEO of Panda Express Tom Davin) [8][9][10][11] began purchase of the team with Moorad serving as club CEO and Vice-Chairman. The sale was valued at about $500 million, and the group planned to purchase the team over five years.[10][12] During this time, Moorad's group also purchased the Padres' minor league Triple-A team, the Portland Beavers.[13]

In 2010, Moorad was named one of San Diego's Most Admired CEOs by the San Diego Business Journal.[14] In April 2012, Moorad negotiated a new TV deal that would lead to the creation of Fox Sports San Diego, and bring in over $1.2 billion for the Padres over the next 20 years.[15]

By 2011, Moorad had sold his 12% share of the Diamondbacks.[16][17] By January 2012, Moorad and his group held 49% ownership of the Padres, when MLB deferred voting on approval for the group to complete the sale with Moores.[18] In March 2012, Moorad withdrew the group's application to complete the full purchase of the Padres.[19][18] He stepped down as CEO of the Padres later that month, but remained with the team as Vice-Chairman.[20] Some media outlets speculated that Moorad was short of the needed support of 22 MLB team owners to complete the purchase of the Padres, though only two were suspected of opposing Moorad's ownership (two would have been enough for Selig to delay voting, however, given his desire, and good record for unanimous votes by MLB owners).[18][19][20][21][22] Moores declared that the entire team was up for sale again in April, citing the good opportunity in the market after the record $2 billion sale of the Los Angeles Dodgers; Moorad's minority group would receive 49% of the proceeds of any sale of the Padres.[23] Moorad was succeeded by Ron Fowler as lead of the group of any owners transferring ownership to the new purchase.[12] In August, the Padres were sold for $800 million, a $300 million increase over the valuation in the 2009 sale.[24]

Moorad Sports Partners

In 2013, Moorad founded Moorad Sports Partners, a private investment firm that invests in and manages sports-related businesses, including professional teams.[25][26]

PrimeSport

In February 2015, Moorad Sports Partners, along with the Carlyle Group and RSE Ventures, acquired PrimeSport Holdings Inc., a global sports travel and events-management company.[27][28] Moorad now serves as PrimeSport's Chairman.[29]

Other business

Moorad formerly served on the Board of Directors for Oakley, Inc., until the sale of the company to Italian manufacturer, Luxottica.[30] Moorad also served on the Board of Directors for Citizen Sports Network, a sports entertainment company, until its sale to Yahoo! in 2010.[31] Moorad previously owned NASCAR team Hall of Fame Racing.[3]

Entertainment business

Moorad and Steinberg appeared in and served as technical consultants for the 1996 Academy Award-winning picture Jerry Maguire. Moorad and Steinberg were the inspiration behind the Jerry Maguire character played by Tom Cruise.[32]

Moorad was the baseball technical consultant for the Universal picture For Love of the Game and had a cameo appearance in the movie.[33]

Community work

Moorad encouraged his clients to donate millions of dollars to their own non-profit foundations and alma maters.[34] Moorad himself endowed a $100,000 scholarship to his alma mater UCLA, where he teaches a 'Business of Sports' class at UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.[34][35] In February 2012, Moorad committed $5 million to his alma mater Villanova University School of Law for the creation of The Jeffrey S. Moorad Center for the Study of Sports Law. [36]

After Moorad's good friend Augie Nieto (founder, Chairman, and CEO of Life Fitness) was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2005, Moorad has been active in helping to raise funds to find a cure for ALS.[34] Moorad serves as a Vice President of the Muscular Dystrophy Association and is on the board of the Translational Genomics Research Institute, both of which he has helped partner with Augie's Quest.[34]

Moorad and his wife have served as chairpersons of Childhelp's Drive the Dream Gala.[34]

Education

A native of Modesto, California, Moorad served as Student Body President of Modesto Junior College where he graduated with an Associate of Arts degree. He then went on to obtain a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from UCLA in 1978, and a Juris Doctor from Villanova University School of Law in 1981.[37]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Peter Keating (April 1, 2002). "Crash Landing". ESPN The Magazine.
  2. ↑ http://www.sloansportsconference.com/?p=118
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Front Office: Jeff Moorad, Vice Chairman & Chief Executive Officer".
  4. ↑ Boeck, Greg (April 29, 2005). "Changing his pinstripes". USA Today.
  5. ↑ http://a.espncdn.com/mlb/news/2002/0223/1339433.html
  6. ↑ Keating, Peter (2003-05-29). "ESPN The Magazine: "Crash Landing"". Espn.go.com. Retrieved 2013-04-16.
  7. ↑ Bloom, Barry M. (February 3, 2009). "Moorad reaches deal to buy Padres". MLB.com. Archived from the original on April 16, 2013.
  8. ↑ Pouliot, Matthew (10 August 2010). "Padres owner Jeff Moorad: payroll ain't everything". NBC Sports. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  9. ↑ Powers, Jeff (March 27, 2009). "A Padres Dozen: New Ownership Group Introduced". SanDiego6.com. Archived from the original on March 28, 2009.
  10. 1 2 Page, Eric S. (March 26, 2009). "New Padres Owners Take the Field". NBCSanDiego.com. Archived from the original on April 16, 2013.
  11. ↑ "Robert Piccinini". Forbes.
  12. 1 2 "Padres sale agreement in place". ESPN.com. Associated Press. August 7, 2012. Archived from the original on April 15, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Moorad Completes Deal To Buy, Move Triple-A Portland Beavers". Sports Business Daily. 4 November 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  14. ↑ "Jeff Moorad named one of San Diego's most admired CEOs". 22 November 2010. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  15. ↑ C. Trent Rosecrans (April 6, 2012). "Reports: Padres' new TV deal could be worth more than $1 billion". CBS Sports.
  16. ↑ "Wall Street Journal 9/25/09 "Owner will be Yelling: Go PadreBacks"". Online.wsj.com. 2009-09-25. Retrieved 2013-04-18.
  17. ↑ Center, Bill (March 13, 2011). "Deal completed to transfer Moorad's interest in Diamondbacks". San Diego Union-Tribune. Archived from the original on April 7, 2012.
  18. 1 2 3 Krasovic, Tom (April 4, 2012). "How the Padres ownership deal fell apart". U-T San Diego. Archived from the original on April 7, 2012.
  19. 1 2 Morosi, Jon Paul (March 23, 2012). "Padres could serve as consolation prize". FoxSports.com. Archived from the original on April 15, 2013.
  20. 1 2 "Jeff Moorad steps down as CEO". ESPN.com. Associated Press. March 22, 2012. Archived from the original on April 16, 2013.
  21. ↑ Rob Neyer (March 22, 2012). "Jeff Moorad Drops Bid To Purchase Padres". SB Nation.
  22. ↑ Bill Madden (August 9, 2014). "Why certain faction of owners is moving to block Rob Manfred’s succession of Bud Selig". Daily News (New York).
  23. ↑ "John Moores hires bankers". ESPN.com. April 10, 2012. Archived from the original on April 16, 2013.
  24. ↑ Center, Bill (August 16, 2012). "MLB approves sale of Padres". U-T San Diego. Archived from the original on August 17, 2012.
  25. ↑ https://carlyle.com/news-room/news-release-archive/carlyle-lead-group-acquiring-primesport-one-stop-platform-ticketing-h
  26. ↑ http://www.themiddlemarket.com/news/financial_sponsors/carlyle-led-group-takes-over-primesport-amid-surge-in-travel-deals-254799-1.html
  27. ↑ http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150217005234/en/Clearlake-Sells-Majority-Stake-PrimeSport-Carlyle-Led#.VO1j0kLdszI
  28. ↑ https://carlyle.com/news-room/news-release-archive/carlyle-lead-group-acquiring-primesport-one-stop-platform-ticketing-h
  29. ↑ https://carlyle.com/news-room/news-release-archive/carlyle-lead-group-acquiring-primesport-one-stop-platform-ticketing-h
  30. ↑ http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2006/12/13/352248/110148/en/Oakley-Appoints-Jeff-Moorad-Arizona-Diamondbacks-General-Partner-to-Its-Board-of-Directors.html
  31. ↑ "Innovating in the World of Sports Media". Huffington Post. November 11, 2009.
  32. ↑ Gomez, Eric (6 February 2009). "Who Is New Padres Owner Jeff Moorad?". Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  33. ↑ Kelly, Jason. "Jeff Moorad Biography". Bloomberg Link. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  34. 1 2 3 4 5 "Jeff Moorad San Diego Padres Front Office". MLB.com. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  35. ↑ http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/the-business-of-sports-it-s-not-245672
  36. ↑ Blumenthal, Jeff (13 February 2012). "San Diego Padres CEO Moorad donates $5M to Villanova law school". Philadelphia Business Journal. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
  37. ↑ "Jeff Moorad's Biography". SportMarketingAssociation.com. Archived from the original on May 7, 2010.
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