Daniel Sillman (born 1989) is an American sports executive, entrepreneur, and film producer. He is the CEO of Relevent [1], a live soccer events and media company best known for marketing the media rights for the UEFA Champions League in the United States[2], English Football League (EFL) in the Americas[3], LaLiga across North America[4], and the Bundesliga in North, Central, and South America[5]. Relevent also operates the Premier League Summer Series throughout the United States[6], owns the Women’s International Champions Cup (ICC)[7], and co-created and produced the UEFA Champions League alternative broadcasts hosted by David Beckham on Paramount+[8].
Career
Sillman founded Compass Management Group, while a student at the University of Michigan, which offered financial services to athletes and entertainers, including Brandon Graham, who later played for the Philadelphia Eagles and Draymond Green of the Golden State Warriors.[9]
After selling Compass in 2014, Sillman joined RSE Ventures, a private investment firm owned by Stephen M. Ross. In 2017 he led the strategy to bring El Clásico, a soccer match between Barcelona and Real Madrid, to the US in pre-season for the first time, and outside of Spain for the second time in 100 years. Following the match, in July 2017 Sillman became the CEO of Relevent.[10]
Sillman led the creation of the Women's International Champions Cup[11] and the International Champions Cup Futures tournament.[12][13]
In August 2018 Sillman negotiated a 15-year joint venture deal on behalf of Relevent with La Liga, with the goal of promoting soccer in Canada and the US. In June 2021, the JV between Relevent Groiup and LaLiga announced an eight-year, $1.4 billion broadcast deal to stream all 380 La Liga matches on ESPN Plus, with some televised on ESPN's networks.[14] In November 2021, the JV reached an eight-year extension with Televisa to broadcast LaLiga in Mexico, worth $560 million.[15]
In February 2022, UEFA awarded Relevent to act as UEFA and the European Club Association’s sales agent for US media rights of UEFA club competition.[16]In August 2022, Sillman negotiated with Paramount and reached a 6-year deal with UEFA valued at $1.5 billion, more than 2.5 times the value of the prior deal for the English language rights to UEFA Club Competitions.[17] Relevent and Sillman also negotiated a 3-year deal with TelevisaUnivision for over $225 million for Spanish language rights for the seasons 2024-2027.[18] Sillman later led Relevent in securing and selling UEFA’s club competition rights in the US and EFL match fixture rights across North, Central, and South America. [19]
Sillman was included on the Forbes “30 Under 30 2018: Sports” list,[20] Sports Business Journal's 2019 “Forty Under 40” list,[9] and Leaders Under 40 2022 list.[21]
Sillman is a member of the FIFA World Cup 26™ Miami Host Committee Board of Directors.[22] He serves on the board of directors of RISE, a national nonprofit that educates and empowers the sports community to eliminate racial discrimination, champion social justice, and improve race relations.
Sillman is executive producer of the 2020 full-length documentary on ESPN about the Norwegian female soccer player Ada Hegerberg, My Name is Ada Hegerberg.[23][24] He is an executive producer on the Netflix docuseries about Brazilian soccer star Neymar, The Perfect Chaos.[25][26]
In September 2022, Major League Pickleball announced Daniel Sillman, along with LeBron James, Kevin Love, Draymond Green, Maverick Carter, Paul Rivera and SC Holdings had purchased a pickleball franchise.[27] Sillman is a long time business partner with 4-time NBA Champion Draymond Green.[28][29]
References
- ^ www.bizjournals.com https://www.bizjournals.com/newyork/news/2018/10/01/daniel-sillman-relevents-29-year-old-ceo-has-bold.html. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ^ Group, Relevent Sports. "Relevent Sports Group Awarded to Sell UEFA Champions League Media Rights in U.S." www.prnewswire.com (Press release). Retrieved 2024-09-19.
{{cite press release}}:|last=has generic name (help) - ^ Feldman, Jacob (2024-03-05). "Relevent Acquires EFL Rights Amid Wrexham-Driven Intrigue". Sportico.com. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
- ^ "LaLiga and RELEVENT partner to promote soccer in the US and Canada". Página web oficial de LALIGA | LALIGA. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
- ^ Crafton, Adam. "German football bidding to crack the U.S. market by signing up with media group Relevent". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
- ^ Pelit, Asli (2023-08-03). "European Soccer Clubs' Summer Tours Heat Up U.S. Fans' Interest". Sportico.com. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
- ^ Pelit, Asli (2022-06-13). "Relevent's Women's Soccer Tournament Adds Mexico to Club Cup". Sportico.com. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
- ^ Weprin, Alex (2024-09-17). "David Beckham to Host UEFA Champions League Altcasts for Paramount+". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
- ^ a b "Forty Under 40: Daniel Sillman". SportBusiness Daily. www.sportsbusinessdaily.com. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
- ^ Thomas, Ian. "Sports Business: Daniel Sillman, Relevent's 29-year-old CEO, has bold plans". New York Business Journal. www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
- ^ Das, Andrew (2018-04-11). "International Champions Cup Will Add Women's Event This Summer". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
- ^ Feldman, Jacob (20 July 2018). "Big ambitions for youth International Champions Cup". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
- ^ "Transcript of ESPN-LaLiga Media Conference Call". ESPN Press Room U.S. ESPN. 2021-05-14. Retrieved 2021-12-31.
- ^ Beer, Jeff. "Why elite Spanish soccer's La Liga is going to be your next streaming obsession". Fast Company. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- ^ "FOS PM: La Liga's $560M TV Deal". Front Office Sports. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
- ^ Cunningham, Euan (11 July 2022). "UEFA, Relevent, and ECA launch club competitions' media rights tender in US". Sportcal. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- ^ Weprin, Alex (19 August 2022). "Paramount Wins Rights to UEFA, Including Champions League, in $1.5B Deal". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
- ^ Pelit, Asli (2023-05-16). "Univision Wins UEFA U.S. Spanish Media Rights in $225M Deal". Sportico.com. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
- ^ Feldman, Jacob (2024-03-05). "Relevent Acquires EFL Rights Amid Wrexham-Driven Intrigue". Sportico.com. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
- ^ "Daniel Sillman". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
- ^ "2022 Leaders Under 40". Leaders. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
- ^ "Leadership". FIFA World Cup 2026 Miami Host Committee. 2024-01-29. Retrieved 2024-09-19.
- ^ "Ada Hegerberg: 'I'm coming back to reconquer my position in football'". The Guardian. 2020-11-19. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
- ^ "Spain: Norwegian soccer star Ada Hegerberg fights internal battle". ESPN.com. 2020-11-19. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
- ^ Anderson, Justin (December 14, 2021). "Netflix, Uninterrupted prep Neymar docuseries "The Perfect Chaos"". RealScreen. Retrieved 2021-12-28.
- ^ Rama (January 11, 2022). "Key Art And Trailer For NEYMAR: THE PERFECT CHAOS" (Video). ramascreen. Retrieved March 1, 2022.
- ^ Golden, Jessica (28 September 2022). "LeBron James is a pickleball fan. And now he's buying a team". CNBC. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
- ^ Haden, Jeff (May 30, 2019). "Why One of the Most Successful CEOs (and Entrepreneurs) You've Never Heard of Still Thinks He Has a Lot to LearnHe runs Relevent, has invested in a number of companies with high-profile partners, yet few know him. Which may be a secret to his success". Inc. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
- ^ Tracy, Marc (2015-09-25). "A Million Thanks: Pro Athletes Share the Wealth With Their Colleges". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-12-28.