Phil Lines has quit the US-based sports agency Creative Artists Agency. His departure comes just over four months after the other senior executives hired by CAA to build the agency’s business outside of the US left the company.
In October, in what appeared to be a sign that the company was retrenching into its core US business activities, CAA released former Chelsea and Manchester United chief executive Peter Kenyon, who had been head-hunted in November 2009 to run operations outside the US.
Many of the executives Kenyon had recruited left with him, including Philippe Le Floc’h, former head of marketing at Uefa, European football’s governing body; Peter Draper, former marketing director of Manchester United and sportswear firm Umbro; Chris Woerts, former head of sponsorship at Heineken; and Michael Galjaardt, former head of global sponsorship at the International Tennis Federation.
Lines survived the cull, but industry insiders said at the time that if CAA did not have a convincing strategy for continuing operations in Europe and elsewhere, he was highly likely to follow them.
Lines told TV Sports Markets today: “After nearly two years at CAA I felt that the time was right to move on. The US sports media industry is booming and I have enjoyed a fascinating experience but I am looking forward to getting more involved in football and European sport again. I can’t say any more today, but there will be an announcement about my next steps in the very near future.”
Lines was formerly head of international broadcasting for English football’s Premier League and was a key figure in the massive growth in value of the league’s rights outside the UK.