E86: #MoneyTalks 2 - George Pyne

Today we talk to George Pyne, the former Nascar and IMG CEO, who founded Bruin Sports Capital in 2015, which has emerged as one of the most interesting companies operating in the sports business today with nearly a billion dollars invested across the sector.Bruin was created with $250 million from Sir Martin Sorrell’s WPP; Dan Gilbert, the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Nassef Sawiris, executive chairman of Aston Villa among others. The fund was increased in size last November following a capital raise of $600million from CVC Capital Partners and the Jordan Group, which allows them to add to their portfolio of sports companies that includes Two Circles, Deltatre, Soulsight and Engine Shop.Before this, Pyne was CEO of IMG in Ted Forstmann era, part of the management team who sold the company to William Morris Endeavour in 2014. Before that was in charge of Nascar and The Portman Group. So a varied career that brought him in to day to day contact with some of the most influential characters in the American and European sports market over the last twenty five years, people like Forstmann and Sorrell to Brian France, Roger Penske and Ari Emanuel to name a few. We talk about his career and where he thinks Bruin will invest it’s considerable cash reserves now and in the future.Unofficial Partner is the leading podcast for the business of sport. A mix of entertaining and thought provoking conversations with a who's who of the global industry. To join our community of listeners, sign up to the weekly UP Newsletter and follow us on Twitter and TikTok at @UnofficialPartnerWe publish two podcasts each week, on Tuesday and Friday. These are deep conversations with smart people from inside and outside sport. Our entire back catalogue of 500 sports business conversations are available free of charge here. Each pod is available by searching for ‘Unofficial Partner’ on Apple, Spotify and every podcast app. If you’re interested in collaborating with Unofficial Partner to create one-off podcasts or series and live events, you can reach us via the website.