CAA Sports to acquire Portas Consulting
CAA Sports, a division of talent and sports agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA), has agreed to acquire Portas Consulting, a London-based sports management consulting firm.
Founded in 2006, Portas provides tailored advisory services in national sports policies, sports investment, increasing sports participation, winning bids for major events, optimizing leagues and clubs, securing funding increases, and optimizing sporting calendars. Portas works with governments, federations, Olympic committees, leagues, clubs, investors, and private sector organizations.
The firm has 160+ employees across offices in London, Riyadh, Dubai, and Singapore, and has completed projects in more than 40 countries.
Portas will form a new service offering within CAA Sports and will rebrand to CAA Portas.
“As CAA Sports continues its international growth plan, we remain focused on creating new service offerings that we can deliver to clients to accelerate their business objectives,” said Paul Danforth, CAA managing director and president, CAA Sports. “Portas Consulting is a best-in-class management consultancy, whose likeminded leadership and collaborative approach to client service will fit seamlessly into the CAA Sports ecosystem.”
CAA Sports has 18 global practices, including property sales, brand consulting, media rights, executive search, venue development, and athlete representation. The sports media advisory practice has structured and negotiated over $100 billion in media rights deals since its founding in 2010, while the brand consulting practice has advised on over $4 billion in sponsorship rights deals.
CAA Icon, a consulting firm specializing in the development, design, and construction of stadiums, was launched in 2017. Most recently, CAA launched its global family office advisory unit, which helps clients manage generational wealth.
CAA Sports represents more than 3,000 athletes, with $14.1 billion in active contract value.
“We have grown organically by 30% annually throughout the last 10 years to become the leading independent advisor to senior leaders in sport,” said Donal McElwee, managing partner at Portas Consulting. “Our new goal is to expand even faster to create a world leading end-to-end advisory business. CAA Sports is the ideal fit to achieve this growth and diversification for the benefit of the industry, our clients, and our people.”
CAA is headquartered in Los Angeles and has more than 4,000 global employees.
