beIN MEDIA GROUP recruits Richard Verow as Chief Sports Officer

In a major industry move, beIN MEDIA GROUP, the leading sports, media and entertainment group (“beIN”), has recruited experienced sports rights executive Richard Verow – the long-standing and highly respected commercial director of Sky Sports – as Chief Sports Officer.

Verow joins beIN today and takes responsibility for the group’s unrivalled global sports acquisitions and distribution portfolio. The role is primarily based in London and he will report directly to beIN MEDIA GROUP CEO, Yousef Al-Obaidly, as part of the beIN Senior Management Team.

beIN, through its flagship sports network beIN SPORTS, holds the single largest portfolio of sports rights of any global broadcaster, operating across 5 continents, 43 countries, in 9 different languages and with over 55 million subscribers worldwide.

As well as being one of the most valued partners of the IOC, UEFA, FIFA, the English Premier League, LaLiga, the NBA, the NFL, Wimbledon, USTA, Tennis Australia, FFT, the ATP and WTA, the broadcaster is the official domestic broadcaster of the FIFA World Cup 2022, while also being at the forefront of the sports industry’s global fight-back against beoutQ and piracy generally.

Verow has been the commercial director at Sky Sports since 2012 – overseeing major negotiations with the Premier League, the International Cricket Council, Formula 1, UEFA, England Cricket, England Rugby, the NFL, the NBA and more.

He was previously a senior commercial lawyer for the International Cricket Council; was senior counsel for UEFA; and has played a major role in other leading organisations in entertainment, media and sport over the past two decades.

Daniel Markham, whom Verow is succeeding in the role, has been promoted to Chief of Staff, Special Advisor to the Chairman (Nasser Al-Khelaifi) and CEO (Yousef Al-Obaidly), where he will work closely with lead executives across the wider portfolio of group companies, entities and interests.

Commenting on the appointments, Yousef Al-Obaidly, CEO of beIN MEDIA GROUP, said: “Our ambition is to become the leading sports and entertainment group in the world and to achieve that we need the very best talent in the business – without doubt, Richard and Daniel are leading examples of this. The next few years could not be more exciting for beIN as we look to grow globally while addressing the piracy challenges we face in MENA. While our industry is going through a transformation, under Richard’s direction I know that we will continue to lead, innovate and grow. More broadly, Nasser and I are also delighted that Daniel will be working with us much more closely across the full group of companies. His expertise will be invaluable to our ambitious plans.”

Richard Verow, beIN MEDIA GROUP’s new Chief Sports Officer, said: “Yousef’s vision for beIN is both ambitious and tremendously exciting. beIN is a group that has a strong global presence, great plans and never sits still. Sky has been a tremendous place to be and it took a very special role and challenge to draw me to the next stage of my career. I am delighted to join beIN at this exciting time.