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Unrivaled Sports hires longtime Nike executive Jim Reynolds to lead the soccer and lacrosse verticals

Unrivaled Sports hires longtime Nike executive Jim Reynolds to lead the soccer and lacrosse verticals

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Unrivaled Sports has hired a longtime Nike executive Jim Reynolds Becoming CEO of Football and Lacrosse. Reynolds retired from Nike in August after nearly 19 years with the company, most recently serving as vice president of global sales. He said he was in no rush to find a new job but jumped at the opportunity after learning about it Andy Campionthe Unrivaled chairman and CEO, who previously worked alongside Reynolds at Nike (Campion spent 17 years at the sportswear giant, most recently as COO).

“I think about it like that [youth sports] is a space where highly skilled people become more dedicated to what they believe in and, in our case, create lifelong memories and positive experiences for children,” said Reynolds. “That’s our mission, what we’re all about. And we need to start a company so we can sustain the mission.”

Unrivaled’s soccer portfolio includes Under the Lights Flag Football, NEFFL and ForeverLawn Sports Complex, which hosted the first-ever NFL FLAG Championships in July. Reynolds said his priority for the sport will be to develop a “more accessible” geographic footprint to minimize travel by participating athletes and their families. These efforts include pop-up events at elite sports facilities. “We will have a flag tournament at Fenway Park in November, next summer at the Big House in Michigan and other great venues like this where we know how to create these great experiences,” Reynolds said. Although Unrivaled has focused primarily on flag football so far, Reynolds said the company is open to getting involved in tackle football as well.

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Unrivaled has not yet moved into lacrosse, although Campion said earlier this year that the sport was a potential expansion target alongside basketball, soccer and volleyball. Reynolds sees an opportunity to either acquire or partner with the best existing operators in the sport. He also noted that flag football and lacrosse have tremendous opportunities thanks to their participation in the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

“It’s super exciting that fans of sports like flag football and lacrosse now have the chance to see the best athletes in their sport play at this level,” Reynolds said. “It’s an exciting moment and we believe we have the tools necessary to amplify this moment. But also to fully exploit the potential that the affinity and passion for the sport must ignite.”

Although the hiring was announced this week, Reynolds started at Unrivaled last month. Unrivaled’s other recent personnel changes include the CEO of Baseball Wade Martin Addition of the title “Chief Commercial Officer”; the hiring of Boston Consulting Group Jordan Oakes as Chief of Staff; former NFL media strategy and business development employee Hannah Farr as Vice President of Corporate Development; and former Chief of Staff of FEVO Lucy Rubin and minor league baseball players Alex Erro as head of corporate development.