He grew up with rugby, but now baseball is his big money-spinner, sports entrepreneur tells Hamish Fletcher
Bart Campbell says he has never had a Jerry Maguire moment - but his company does own the building where Tom Cruise shouted that movie's most famous line.
"'Show me the money!' was filmed in our office in Newport Beach, California," says the New Zealand expat sports entrepreneur.
Campbell was showing the money himself this week, when reporting his company's financial results in London.
That company, TLA Worldwide, is in the business of athlete representation and sports marketing, and counts Major League Baseball stars, golf pros and Olympians among its clients.
The London-listed company, which Campbell chairs, also organises and manages big-ticket events. TLA was the commercial agent for last year's match between the Eagles and All Blacks in Chicago - regarded as a ratings success in a country where rugby barely registers on the radar.
The sell-out game was by no means Campbell's first encounter with the black jersey.
Before co-founding TLA, the New Plymouth-born 44-year-old served as chief executive of Essentially Group, a firm that has represented scores of All Blacks, with the likes of Dan Carter and Richie McCaw on its roster.
While Essentially Group was centred on sports that Campbell grew up with - rugby union and cricket - TLA's "pillar" is Major League Baseball, an industry now worth more than US$9 billion ($14 billion) each year.
It is also among the sports Campbell says he has grown to love.
Which is probably for the best, given that baseball player representation accounted for almost half of TLA's US$15.6 million operating income for the first six months of this year. The ball game's attraction lies in its long player contracts, and big money.
"At the top end of the market you've got players earning US$300 million and in one contract negotiation, you've got the highest commission rates in major league sports," says Campbell.
Asked if it is odd that a London-listed firm is involved in such a quintessentially American sport, he says that until this year TLA operated almost entirely out of the United States. That changed when the company bought Melbourne-headquartered Elite Sports Properties in March.
The purchase, for up to A$25.5 million ($28.8 million), gave TLA a further 250 clients and 85 staff.
The deal also boosted the firm's presence across the Ditch.
Worth about US$8.5 billion a year, Australia is the world's fourth most valuable sports market and one where Campbell wants to stage more events.
TLA client and LA Dodgers pitcher Brett Anderson. Photo / AP
TLA client Jim Furyk. Photo / AP
Dan Carter slips an Eagles tackle in last year's All Blacks vs United States rugby match at Chicago's Soldier Field, for which TLA was the commercial agent. Photo / AP
It's also the country he now calls home and where he purchased a leading rugby league franchise two years ago.
In 2013 Campbell was part of the four-man consortium which bought the Melbourne Storm from Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd.
The New Zealander took over as chairman of the club shortly afterwards, when he moved from London to Victoria. Until recently, Campbell also owned a stake in the Melbourne City Football Club, but was bought out by majority owner Manchester City FC in late July.
While acknowledging that buying a sports team could be an emotional fling, Campbell says he got involved with the Storm because it was an investment opportunity.
"But I can tell you now that the nature of the beast is, once you're in there, you can't help but become passionate and excited," he says.
"I'd like to think we are trying to make good decisions, which are good for our business, good for our staff, good for the town of Melbourne, but it doesn't mean I don't behave like a very excited punter two minutes into the game."
Despite having lived half of his life out of New Zealand, Campbell's old loyalties are quick to surface.
Asked who will win the Rugby World Cup, he answers without a moment's hesitation: "The All Blacks." And his favourite player of all time? "Tabai Matson ... he's my brother-in-law. I'm obligated."
Matson, a former All Black who now coaches at the Crusaders, also happened to be Campbell's first client in the 1990s.
This initial foray into the business of sport came while Campbell was still working as a "very bad lawyer" for London's NatWest bank.
"I don't think there were any grand designs of making a fortune [from sport] at the time because I was just 27 years old and just enjoying what I was doing. As it happens, you get stuck in and opportunities come, you execute well and you end up with a good outcome," he says.
The outcome for Campbell's two previous businesses were buyouts.
The first, Global Sports Management, was bought in 2006 by Essentially Group, which Campbell led after the purchase.
He steered that company through a listing on London's alternative market and, in turn, in 2009 it was acquired by public relations giant Chime Communications. It is now one of the largest sports agencies in the world.
"When you run small listed companies you're for sale every day," says Campbell. "There's a price tag and it just depends on what your shareholders will take.
"So are we for sale? No.
"Is it distinctly possible that, as there continues to be an aggregation in sports marketing agencies, that we could be acquired? Yeah, absolutely but it will have to be for the right price. It's a consequence of doing a good job."
Q&A
You were born in New Plymouth, raised in Palmerston North. Where do you call home now?
Melbourne, although I visit one of New York or London every month.
Being brought up in New Zealand, the sports that were interesting to me as a kid were cricket and rugby - both rugby union and rugby league, so it won't surprise you that on a personal level those are sports I'm passionate about ... but I've been lucky enough to live in the US and London for 20 years now, so I've had exposure to lots of other sports. I'm a big fan of US major leagues and football.
How do you separate being a fan of a game and being in the business of sport?
Our job is to advise clients, whether they're leagues, governing bodies or athletes. Have we ever got advice wrong? Yeah, no doubt. Have we ever got it wrong because we're a fan? I don't think so. We are selling our expertise, so it's important for us to get that right.
Ideal Rugby World Cup final?
All Blacks, England.
Profile:
Age: 44 years old Born: New Plymouth Raised: Palmerston North Lives: Melbourne
