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Andrew Nestor (born September 2, 1982) is an American businessman, Co-Founder and CEO of Bilkul Football Group, a global sports investment and operating company and the majority owner of English Football League club West Bromwich Albion. [1]

Nestor is Co-Founder and a Managing Partner of Cerro Capital.[2] Cerro Capital’s portfolio includes Religion of Sports and X Games. [3]

Nestor founded the Tampa Bay Rowdies [4] and served as a director at Bologna FC 1909 for two years, having spearheaded the takeover of the Italian club in October 2014. [5]

Early Life

Nestor is a native of Boston, Massachusetts, with his family originating from Bogotá, Colombia. He graduated from the Boston University School of Management. [6]

Career

After cutting his teeth in the finance industry in New York, Nestor set about building a career in sports, specifically football (soccer), which he had played growing up. [7]

In 2008, at the age of 25, he founded the only professional soccer club in Tampa Bay, Florida. Nestor and his partners later acquired the Tampa Bay Rowdies’ trademarks and revived the iconic brand[8]. Nestor served as CEO, President and General Manager of the Rowdies, which included overseeing all coaching appointments and player recruitment. He also negotiated the club's move to Al Lang Stadium in St. Petersburg, Florida in 2011. [9]

In only their third season in the NASL in 2012, the Rowdies won the league title under Nestor's stewardship. [10] Nestor stepped away from his role as CEO and General Manager in 2014, and he and his partners successfully exited with a sale of the club to the owners of Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays in 2018. [11]

Nestor was a key player in the takeover of Bologna FC 1909, assembling the investor group led by Montreal CF founder and owner Joey Saputo, which secured ownership of the then Serie B club in October 2014.[12] He oversaw an operational transition at the club across its commercial, financial and sporting departments, and was appointed to the Board of Directors for two years. Less than a year after the takeover, Bologna FC 1909 earned promotion back to Serie A and have since gone on to establish itself in Italy’s top division, securing qualification for the UEFA Champions League at the end of the 2023/24 season.

Nestor has also acted as an advisor for several professional sports teams transactions across major North American sports leagues and European football, including the buyers of Como 1907 in 2018.

Nestor served as Vice President for MP & Silva, formerly the world’s largest sports media right business, leading Business Development in the Americas and managing rights for the Premier League, NFL, Serie A, Roland Garros, Formula 1 and other leading sports properties during a two year period leading up to the sale of the business. [13]

Following Nestor’s tenure as Director of Bologna FC 1909 and at MP & Silva, he became a Partner, Chief Business Officer and Board Advisor for Dugout, a digital platform co-founded and co-owned by some of world football's biggest clubs including Arsenal FC, FC Barcelona, FC Bayern Munich, Chelsea FC, Juventus FC, Liverpool FC, Manchester City FC, Paris St. Germain and Real Madrid CF, and structured a merger with OneFootball in 2020. [14]

Nestor is Co-Founder of sports investment company Cerro Capital, a sports investment firm that invests globally in premium and emerging sports IP, established in 2020. [15]

Cerro’s portfolio includes Religion of Sports, an Emmy-award winning media company co-founded by Tom Brady, Michael Strahan, and Gotham Chopra. [16] Cerro is also a partner in the X Games, acquired in 2022 from The Walt Disney Company/ESPN, [17] along with lead investor MSP Sports Capital (control owner of McLaren Racing) and skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. [18]

In February 2024, Chinese businessman Guochuan Lai sold his majority shareholding in West Bromwich Albion Group Ltd to Bilkul Football WBA. Nestor serves as CEO of Bilkul Football alongside now WBA Chairman Shilen Patel, a Tampa native who he first met during his time at Tampa Bay Rowdies, Shilen’s cousin Ashish Patel, who is a Co-Founder of Cerro Capital with Nestor, and Shilen Patel’s father and esteemed businessman and philanthropist Dr Kiran C Patel. [19] [20]

Personal Life

Nestor is the first cousin of Diego Restrepo, the former San Antonio FC and US U20 goalkeeper, who is currently the Head of Goalkeeping for National Women’s Soccer League club Bay FC.

References

  1. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5305952/2024/02/29/shilen-patel-west-brom-tampa-world-cup/?redirected=1
  2. ^ https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2022/11/28/Upfront/Cerro-Capital.aspx
  3. ^ https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2022/11/28/Upfront/Cerro-Capital.aspx
  4. ^ https://www.cltampa.com/arts/why-the-rowdies-rule-12303588
  5. ^ https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidlariviere/2014/10/27/andrew-nestor-led-group-buys-bologna-fc/
  6. ^ https://www.insidemnsoccer.com/ussf-d2-pro-league/q-and-a-with-andrew-nestor-owner-president-and-ceo-of-fc-tampa-bay-rowdies-soccer
  7. ^ https://www.cltampa.com/arts/why-the-rowdies-rule-12303588
  8. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20120111110359/http:/www.insidemnsoccer.com/2011/12/15/fc-tampa-bay-acquire-the-rights-to-rowdies-name/
  9. ^ https://www.cltampa.com/arts/why-the-rowdies-rule-12303588
  10. ^ https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2012/10/31/how-rowdies-built-champ/
  11. ^ https://www.draysbay.com/2018/10/4/17936244/tampa-bay-rowdies-team-details-acquisition-tampa-bay-rays
  12. ^ https://www.businessobserverfl.com/news/2014/oct/27/former-rowdies-president-buys-italian-team/
  13. ^ https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2015/11/12/People-and-Pop-Culture/Execs.aspx
  14. ^ https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/onefootball-dugout-takeover-2020/
  15. ^ https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2022/11/28/Upfront/Cerro-Capital.aspx
  16. ^ https://www.forbes.com/sites/timcasey/2022/06/06/religion-of-sports-tom-bradys-sports-media-production-company-raises-50-million-series-b-funding-round/
  17. ^ https://www.wsj.com/articles/espn-sells-majority-stake-in-x-games-to-private-equity-firm-11666813376
  18. ^ https://www.wsj.com/articles/espn-sells-majority-stake-in-x-games-to-private-equity-firm-11666813376
  19. ^ https://www.expressandstar.com/sport/football/west-bromwich-albion/2024/07/05/directors-andrew-nestor-and-ashish-patel-confirmed-on-board-of-west-brom-owners-bilkul/
  20. ^ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5305952/2024/02/29/shilen-patel-west-brom-tampa-world-cup/?redirected=1
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