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Casey Wasserman

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Casey Wasserman
Wasserman in 2020
President of the Los Angeles Olympic Organising Committee
Incumbent
Assumed office
February 5, 2018
LeaderThomas Bach
Preceded byTony Estanguet
(Paris 2024)
Succeeded byJohn Coates
(Brisbane 2032)
Personal details
Born
Casey Myers

1974
SpouseLaura Ziffren
Parent(s)Jack Myers
Lynne Wasserman
RelativesLew Wasserman (maternal grandfather)
Alma materUCLA
OccupationBusinessman, philanthropist

Casey Wasserman (born Casey Myers; 1974) is an entertainment executive and sports agent executive who owned the now defunct Arena Football League team the Los Angeles Avengers. He is the son of the Los Angeles socialite and philanthropist Lynne Wasserman and Jack Myers (formerly Meyerowitz). His parents were divorced and he took his mother's maiden name, which is also the last name of his famous grandfather Lew Wasserman. His sister's name is Carol Ann Leif. He is married to movie music supervisor Laura Ziffren.[1] He headed the successful Los Angeles bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics and became president of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee.[2]

Family background and education

Wasserman obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).[3] He credits his maternal grandfather, Lew Wasserman, head of MCA, as his greatest teacher. The two would have breakfast together every Saturday and Sunday from the time when Casey was a child to the elder Wasserman's death in 2002.[4] The younger Wasserman said, "He was my most valuable resource in terms of information. In broad terms he knew what he wanted to do and I followed in his footsteps." According to a quote from an interview with his father Jack Myers: "'My son changed his name to Wasserman,' Jack Myers told author Dennis McDougal, who wrote 'The Last Mogul,' a biography of Lew Wasserman. 'I said, 'Casey, first of all everyone will think you're a fool if you do that. You look like an idiot.'"[5] After graduation from UCLA, Casey Wasserman worked as an investment banker.[3]

Arena Football

In 1998, he purchased the Los Angeles Avengers of the Arena Football League (AFL). He paid about $5 million for the franchise rights. Despite his youth, he was elected chairman of the league. In 2002 he negotiated a groundbreaking national television partnership between the league and NBC television, as well as the collective bargaining agreement with its players. On Saturday, April 18, 2009, Wasserman sent an email to AFL's de facto commissioner informing him of his decision to terminate the L.A. Avengers' membership in the Arena Football League.[6]

Wasserman (Agency)

The same year that he purchased the football team, Casey Wasserman started Wasserman (then-called Wasserman Media Group), a sports marketing and talent management company, of which he remains CEO.

In 2002, WMG acquired the sports marketing and naming-rights company Envision and the action sports marketing and representation firm The Familie, based in Carlsbad, CA.

In 2004, WMG purchased 411 Productions and a few months later relaunched it as Studio 411, a sports entertainment film studio. The business was designed to provide financing, obtain sponsorships and arrange distribution in support of original productions.[7] The company also made an unsuccessful bid to sign up enough athletes in BMX, skateboarding and freestyle motocross to form PGA-like sanctioning bodies in those sports.[8]

In January, 2006 WMG acquired the NBA and MLB sports agent business of Arn Tellem, a well-known sports agent who joined WMG as well. Several of Tellem's sports agent colleagues also joined the company as part of the deal.[9] Until he retired in June, 2015, Tellem was a principal at the company and ran one of its management groups.[10]

In November 2006, the company acquired soccer agency, SFX, in the UK.[11] Through that acquisition, WMG came to represent such players as Steven Gerrard, Robbie Keane, Jamie Carragher, Michael Owen, Tim Cahill, Jonathan Woodgate, Wes Brown, Scott Parker, Jack Wilshere, Park Ji-Sung, Shay Given, Tim Howard and Emile Heskey.

In June 2007, WMG expanded its consulting and media and property capabilities by purchasing Raleigh, NC-based OnSport.[12]

In early 2011, WMG bought London-based media rights manager and advisory firm Reel Enterprises.[13]

That year WMG expanded its golf talent roster by acquiring SFX Golf in April 2011.[14]

In 2016, Wasserman Media Group rebranded as Wasserman and is frequently referred to as "Team Wass".[15]

LA 2028 Olympic Organizing Committee

Casey Wasserman successfully led Los Angeles' bid for the 2028 Summer Olympics and will head the city's Olympic organizing committee.

In 2015, the USOC selected Los Angeles as the American applicant for the 2024 Summer Olympics after withdrawing Boston's bid. Wasserman commented: "We live in a democracy. The city and the council and the communities need to be engaged and supportive, otherwise we won't be successful regardless." In 2017, the IOC decided to award the hosts of both the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics. At the 131st IOC Session, Paris was selected to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, with Los Angeles being selected to host the 2028 Summer Olympics. The LA bid was praised by the IOC for using a record-breaking number of existing and temporary facilities and for relying entirely on corporate funding.[16][17]

Anti-racism and the International Olympic Committee

On June 19, 2020, Wasserman reportedly wrote the International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach to advocate for changes to be made to the controversial Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter which states: "No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas."[18] In the letter, Wasserman urges the IOC to amend the guidelines that support Rule 50 of the Olympic Charter to allow anti-racist advocacy on the Olympic stage and stated “Being anti-racist is not political.”[19][20]

Other activities

Wasserman acts as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Wasserman Foundation, a charitable organization founded by Lew Wasserman and his wife Edie in 1952.[21] While Casey Wasserman's sports agency is vocal on social media about issues of police brutality, racial inequality, and social justice, the Wasserman Foundation is a major contributor to the Los Angeles Police Foundation:,[22] before all names and pictures were removed from the site during the summer of 2020, Casey Wasserman's picture was listed on the "Who We Are" page for the Los Angeles Police Foundation.[23] He sits on two of the Motion Picture and Television Fund's three boards of directors - the MPTF Corporate Board[24] and the MPTF Foundation Board.[25] In an April 13, 2009, article in the Los Angeles Times, Wasserman is quoted as having explained that the decision of the MPTF Boards to close its hospital and transfer its elderly long-term care residents would "allow [the MPTF] to thrive for generations."[26]

Wasserman co-chaired a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign on August 22, 2016.[27]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Laura Ziffren". IMDb.
  2. ^ Mullen, Liz (10 November 2003). "Casey Wasserman". Sports Business Journal.
  3. ^ a b Street, Scott (27 April 2006). "Back to his Roots". Dailt Bruin. Archived from the original on 27 April 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ^ Mullen, Liz (10 November 2003). "Casey Wasserman". SportsBusiness Journal. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  5. ^ "Casey Wasserman's L.A. story goes far beyond 2024 Olympic bid". Los Angeles Business Journal.
  6. ^ Farmer, Sam (20 April 2009). "Avengers to fold Arena Football League franchise". Los Angeles Times.
  7. ^ O'Brein, Sean (22 May 2006). "Wasserman Launches Studio411 - Transworld Business Magazine". Transworld Business. Archived from the original on 22 May 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  8. ^ Lidz, Franz. "Extreme Dream Casey Wasserman, grandson of a legendary movie mogul, has become a force in action sports". SI.com.
  9. ^ "Wasserman Acquires Tellem Business; SFX Promotes Pelinka". www.sportsbusinessdaily.com.
  10. ^ Tellem, Arn. "Arn Tellem: Why I'm making the jump from sports agent to NBA front office". SI.com.
  11. ^ "Wasserman Media Group Acquires SFX Sports Group". www.prnewswire.co.uk. Wasserman Media Group.
  12. ^ "Wasserman Media Group Acquiring Gary Stevenson's OnSport". www.sportsbusinessdaily.com.
  13. ^ "US based Wasserman Media Group acquires the UK's rights manager and advisory firm Reel Enterprises". www.investinuk.net.
  14. ^ "Wasserman growth continues with SFX Golf purchase".
  15. ^ "Wasserman undergoes rebrand to reflect its evolution from just sports".
  16. ^ "IOC makes historic decision by simultaneously awarding Olympic Games 2024 to Paris and 2028 to Los Angeles". International Olympic Committee. September 13, 2017. Archived from the original on July 17, 2019. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  17. ^ "Los Angeles 2028 releases "privately-funded, balanced budget" for Olympic and Paralympic Games".
  18. ^ Soshnick, Scott (31 July 2020). "L.A. Olympic Chair Wasserman Asks IOC President to Repeal Rule That Bars Advocacy". Sportico. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  19. ^ Wharton, David (31 July 2020). "L.A. Olympic officials ask IOC to allow athlete protests". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  20. ^ Iveson, Ali (1 August 2020). "Los Angeles 2028 chief Wasserman joins calls for Rule 50 to be amended". Inside the Games. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  21. ^ "The Wasserman Foundation - About the Foundation". 9 December 2006. Archived from the original on 9 December 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  22. ^ "Giving | Wasserman Foundation".
  23. ^ https://twitter.com/NOlympicsLA/status/1267194862400495616?s=20. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  24. ^ "(MPTF Corporate Board)".[permanent dead link‍]
  25. ^ Foundation Board)
  26. ^ Verrier, Richard (13 April 2009). "Plan to close nursing home for film workers stirs emotions". Los Angeles Times.
  27. ^ "Hillary Clinton Fundraisers Coming to Beverly Hills". The Beverly Hills Courier. August 3, 2016. Retrieved August 5, 2016.
Sporting positions
Preceded by President of Organizing Committee for Summer Olympic Games
2028 		Succeeded by
TBD
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