James Warburton confirmed CEO of V8 Supercars
Former Ten boss James Warburton will take up the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) role at V8 Supercars motor racing circuit on June 1, the organisation has announced.
Warburton is “a world-class senior executive with vast expertise in the media, marketing and advertising sectors,” the statement said. The announcement comes a fortnight after rumours of his appointment first emerged.
Director of V8 Supercars Andrew Gray said Warburton’s extensive track record in television, sales and commercial fields make him an ideal fit for the role.
Warburton was MD of media buying company Universal McCann, before he joined the Seven Network where he was promoted to Chief Sales Officer and had responsibility for the commercialisation of the Network’s AFL and V8 Supercars rights, the statement said.
He was fired from his chief executive role by the board of Ten in February.
V8 Supercars director Roland Dane said of the announcement: “James is considered by the Board as an extremely shrewd and highly capable CEO. We look forward to James bringing his wealth of knowledge, sales acumen and clear love of the sport to the V8 Supercars business.”
Warburton said: “It’s a great honour to be leading this sport into its next phase of growth… I can’t wait to rip in.”
I would love to be in the Seven boardroom as James asks for a favour……..
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Initially, as a fan, I was pumped to see someone with some media savvy and clout such as James take the helm of the sport – as god knows it deserves more than it received in its last TV deal. However, after chatting with mates some concerns came out:
– The dude really pissed of Seven when he left, and Ten fired him, meaning straight off the bat he will be fighting an uphill battle with networks to secure an awesome deal (however still believe he can manage this, if everyone plays grown up).
– CEO of a sport must have a clear passion, which I am not sure James does (happy to be proven wrong). The past two CEOs have bombed out for that reason in particular.
I firmly believe V8 Supercars has the potential to be Australia’s #1 sport, as it already offers more action, better role-models and more of a truely national experience than any other major sporting code – but to get to that #1 spot we need a great leader, not just a good one…..
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