BUSINESS LEADER LANDS HUGE GOLF DEAL
Sportbox agency up and running
Canada’s top golfers started out on a new course Monday as Saskatoon’s David Dubé negotiated his way onto the country’s professional golf landscape.
Dubé — along with Toronto-based Danny Fritz, former vice-president and managing director of sports, entertainment and media company IMG Canada — successfully launched a tee shot in the Canadian market with their new sports management and marketing agency, SportBox Entertainment Group.
SportBox announced two deals that will propel the agency house to a portfolio of Canadian golf professionals unmatched in the last decade.
Clients include PGA Tour stars Graham DeLaet and David Hearn, plus a new wave of rising young Canadian stars like Adam Hadwin, Roger Sloan, Matt Hill, Cory Renfrew and Michael Gligic. The deals closed Monday night.
“It was a lot of work, but, yeah, there’s definitely a sense of relief to do it on the timelines we were shooting for,” Dubé said Monday night from Toronto, where he is attending this week’s RBC Canadian Open.
Dubé, who is president and CEO of Saskatoonbased Concorde Group, is a well-known sports enthusiast with a special interest in golf and the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team, and Huskie Athletics in general.
His partnership with Fritz has opened doors to new business in an arena which suits Dubé just fine.
“We’re both passionate about golf and business, so it was a perfect fit,” offered Dubé, adding that it was really about finding the “right team” to do it. “I think he’s the best in the business. When you team up with the best in the business, you have the best chance for success for (clients).
“This is exactly where we wanted to start.”
For starters, SportBox has a joint venture with IMG, details of which are scheduled to be released today.
Also, through a strategic acquisition, SportBox has secured the golf assets of Mississauga, Ont.- based Landmark Sport Group.
The acquisition will see DeLaet, Hearn, Hadwin and others, like 2011 Dakota Dunes champ Joe Panzeri, join the SportBox roster.
“Golf is a massive part of the Canadian sports landscape and that will be the current focus of SportBox Entertainment Group, beginning with the biggest stars in Canadian professional golf today, while also having an eye on the next generation,” Fritz stated in a release. “While (this) is an important foundation for SportBox, we look forward to growing the many business opportunities in the game for the Canadian golf industry.”
After many delays, the deals finally closed Monday night.
“It’s been a tough negotiation,” said Dubé, fresh from playing in the Pro-Am event earlier in the day.
“Today was a little challenging to concentrate on hitting a golf ball but we got through it and had some fun.”
He played nine holes with DeLaet and nine holes with TSN’s Cory Woron.
“It’s going to be very, very interesting,” Dubé said of the new sports business venture. “It’ll be the first time in the history of Canadian golf where the lion’s share of everybody has been brought into one house to represent them. “(It) will not only create a ‘home’ for Canadian professional golf but will open many doors for other opportunities in the industry.”
Of course, there’s also a Saskatchewan connection on the talent side, with DeLaet.
“The thing that always struck me is it’s a bit more of the new Saskatchewan, the partnering with a guy who’s well established in the industry and the best in the business in Canada,” said Dubé, adding that they want to be entrepreneurial, a mid-sized firm with big plans.
“We feel that the best representation (for Canadian golfers) is with a Canadian firm and we wanted to build a firm that’s strong and dominant in the space and we feel that we’re off to a good start, but it’s just a start.”
SportBox golfers DeLaet, Hearn, Hadwin and Sloan will play this week in the Canadian Open at Oakville, Ont.’s Glen Abbey Golf Club.
“Right now we’re going to focus on golf,” said Dubé. “We’re going to look at academies. Lots of opportunities have come our way quietly during this, what we called our dark period where we had to keep secrets.
“We have a lot of work to do here in the next year. This is the start, not the finish line.”
Dubé would not disclose the price tag for the acquisition of Landmark’s golf assets.
“It won’t be the last acquisition,” he said, “but certainly it’s the most formative one in Canadian golf to start with.”