Director, Rights Acquisition

Другое

• Company is a world-class sports media company strategically positioned to be the essential destination for passionate sports fans, delighting them with live event coverage, breaking news, highlights, stats, rankings, and team and player profiles. We are growing Our Sports every day by continuing to invest in our ever-expanding ecosystem, which consists of over a dozen sport verticals and hundreds of streaming partners. Company is creating the home for college conferences/leagues and sports like grappling, hockey, track & field, racing, cheer, wrestling, and more, and we are looking for innovative and passionate people like you to help us!
• THE ROLE:
• Company is seeking a Director, Rights Acquisition to lead the identification, evaluation, negotiation, and growth of strategic media rights partnerships across multiple sports. Reporting to the VP, Global Rights Acquisition , this role will serve as a senior commercial leader responsible for building and managing a high-value portfolio of rights and partnerships that drive audience growth, subscriber acquisition, engagement, and long-term enterprise value.
• The Director will bring deep expertise in the sports media and digital streaming landscape, with the ability to anticipate market shifts, identify emerging opportunities, and translate those opportunities into commercially successful partnerships. This individual will own complex rights negotiations from initial strategy and valuation through contracting, launch, and ongoing partnership management.
• This role carries meaningful P&L, forecasting, and KPI accountability and will be expected to develop business cases and investment recommendations grounded in audience, subscriber, revenue, and profitability potential. The Director will partner closely with executive leadership and teams across Finance, Legal, Product, Marketing, Content, Editorial, Production, and Programming to ensure rights investments align with Company' broader portfolio and growth strategy.
• Beyond individual transactions, the Director will help shape Company' long-term rights acquisition strategy, cultivate senior-level relationships across the sports ecosystem, and identify opportunities to expand existing partnerships into broader strategic relationships.
• RESPONSIBILITIES:
• Develop and execute rights acquisition strategy across assigned sports and categories, identifying opportunities that support Company' subscriber, revenue, audience, and strategic growth objectives.
• Own a portfolio of strategic media rights partnerships , including sourcing, valuation, negotiation, contracting, renewal strategy, expansion, and ongoing relationship management.
• Lead complex, high-value negotiations with leagues, governing bodies, event organizers, associations, agencies, rights holders, and other strategic partners.
• Build and maintain a robust pipeline of acquisition opportunities, continually advancing multiple significant and complex negotiations simultaneously.
• Develop comprehensive business cases and financial models for prospective rights investments, evaluating subscriber acquisition, retention, engagement, revenue, cost, profitability, and strategic value.
• Maintain accountability for P&L performance, forecasts, budgets, and KPIs associated with assigned rights and partnerships.
• Establish clear qualitative and quantitative success metrics for rights investments and regularly evaluate portfolio performance against those expectations.
• Identify opportunities to renew, expand, restructure, or optimize existing rights agreements based on performance and evolving business priorities.
• Develop deep, senior-level relationships with key stakeholders across leagues, associations, governing bodies, event organizers, athletes, coaches, agencies, brands, and other industry partners.
• Identify opportunities to create broader strategic partnerships that extend beyond traditional media rights and increase the long-term value of Company' relationships.
• Partner closely with Finance and executive leadership to evaluate investment priorities, portfolio tradeoffs, and capital allocation decisions.
• Partner with Legal throughout negotiation and contracting to structure agreements that appropriately balance commercial opportunity, rights protections, exclusivity, risk, and long-term flexibility.
• Lead cross-functional planning with Marketing, Product, Production, Content, Editorial, Programming, and Operations to ensure new rights partnerships can be successfully launched, monetized, and scaled.
• Serve as the senior internal advocate and subject-matter expert for assigned sports, providing leadership with insights on market dynamics, competitive activity, emerging properties, rights valuations, and industry trends.
• Develop executive-level recommendations and presentations regarding prospective investments, renewals, portfolio performance, and strategic opportunities.
• Create scalable frameworks for evaluating and prioritizing rights opportunities across the organization.
• Represent Company externally at industry events, conferences, negotiations, and senior partner meetings.
• Mentor and provide strategic guidance to more junior members of the Rights Acquisition team, helping strengthen commercial capabilities and negotiation discipline across the function.
• Foster a collaborative, innovative, commercially disciplined, and partner-focused culture.
• KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES:
• 8+ years of progressive experience in media rights acquisition, sports business development, strategic partnerships, media distribution, or a closely related commercial function.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex media rights negotiations and closing meaningful, high-value partnerships .
• Deep understanding of the sports media ecosystem, including streaming, digital media, subscription businesses, rights distribution, and evolving consumer behavior.
• Strong commercial and financial acumen with demonstrated experience developing business cases, evaluating investment opportunities, and managing against P&L and performance targets .
• Ability to assess rights opportunities through both a strategic and quantitative lens, including subscriber acquisition, retention, engagement, revenue, profitability, and portfolio value.
• Proven ability to build and maintain relationships with senior executives and decision-makers across leagues, governing bodies, associations, events, agencies, and other rights holders.
• Strong negotiation skills with the ability to structure creative agreements that create value for both Company and its partners.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and drive alignment across multiple departments without relying solely on direct authority.
• Ability to navigate ambiguity, manage competing priorities, and make sound commercial recommendations in a fast-moving environment.
• Exceptional executive communication, presentation, and storytelling skills.
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate complex financial and market information into clear recommendations.
• Proven ability to operate strategically while remaining close enough to the details to drive opportunities through execution.
• Strong leadership capabilities with experience mentoring, developing, or leading others.
• Bachelor's degree required; MBA or other advanced degree preferred, but not required based on relevant experience.
• BONUS
• Success will be measured by the Director's ability to build and maintain a high-quality rights pipeline, secure strategically and financially attractive partnerships, maximize the performance of Company' existing rights portfolio, and establish long-term relationships that strengthen the company's position within the sports media ecosystem.
• The Director will be expected to demonstrate not only strong deal execution, but also sound portfolio judgment — knowing where Company should invest, where it should expand, where it should renegotiate, and when an opportunity does not meet the company's strategic or financial objectives.
• OUR COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY:
• At Company, we are bonded by our passion for sports and our purpose to unite communities around experiences that finally give underserved sports the love they deserve. We recognize the need to build a company that seeks out, embraces, and celebrates our individual differences, ideas, and talent. Company is committed to the pursuit of a fair, equal and inclusive workplace where everyone is given the opportunity to grow to their fullest potential.
• OUR BENEFITS:
• Recognized three years in a row as a Top Workplace by the Austin-American Statesman
• Flexibility at work - you can take control of your profession and personal schedule
• All-hands events hosted in beautiful Austin, Texas
• Annual equity awards for all top performers
• Competitive and comprehensive medical, dental and vision plans
• Peace of mind through company-paid short-term disability, long-term disability and life insurance
• Generous 401(K) company match vested immediately
• Progressive parental leave policies
• Flexible paid time off
• Hack-a-thons and a full calendar of team-building and social events
• Company donation to youth teams and leagues that our employees coach
• Stocked snack bar, catered lunch and breakfast tacos every week