The X Games has hired a pair of new executives, adding CHERIE COHEN as Chief Revenue Officer and KEITH SENGLAUB as Chief Financial Officer.
Cohen joins from nearly six years as the global chief revenue officer for the World Surf League. She previously held sales roles with NBCUniversal and ESPN.
Senglaub is a longtime financial executive who most recently served as a consultant with J. Galt Consulting Partners and CTH Advisors. He previously worked for sports and entertainment experiential firms RWS Global and Feld Entertainment.
X Games CEO JEREMY BLOOM Jeremy Bloom raved about the level of experience both executives bring to the table. He noted that Cohen helped oversee a six-fold revenue increase for WSL, as well as Senglaub’s past experience working with properties like Monster Jam and Disney on Ice. Both executives are expected to play key roles in launching the X Games League, the new team format set to debut next year.
“On the finance side, this is a tricky business. At the end of the day we’re a live sports business and these are very expensive events,” Bloom said. “So I needed to find a revenue leader who had a lot of live sporting events experience globally, someone who understood how to forecast and benchmark and plan and create more efficiency. There’s not too many people in the world that have that.”
Bloom said the hiring process for both roles was managed in-house without the help of a search firm.
Cohen and Senglaub are the latest in a wave of executive hires for the X Games, with Bloom taking over as CEO in December and former WNBA Business Transformation Director ANNIE LOKESH joining as Head of the X Games League last month. Bloom declined to share details but said he just finalized the hiring of a chief brand officer, the final C-suite role that hadn’t been filled.
Looking ahead to the launch of the X Games League, Bloom said more than 30 cities have submitted event hosting bids. The league is also seeking independent ownership for its teams. Bloom wouldn’t go into detail given ongoing negotiations, but he said the league has “a couple term sheets signed” by potential team owners.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to be in the live sports business. The amount of interest, capital and momentum out there for sports like X Games is sort of humbling,” said Bloom, who pointed to recent team value growth in global leagues ranging from Formula One to SailGP. “There’s a lot of capital out there, and we want to find the right buyers. So we’re being selective with who we’re talking to.”
