beIN Media Group has signed Sky Sports commercial director Richard Verow as its chief sports officer.
Verow will be based in London and replaces Daniel Markham, who has been promoted to a wider role within the group. He reports to beIN Media Group CEO Yousef Al-Obaidly.
Commenting on the appointments, 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.”
Richard Verow added : “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.”
beIN is said to hold the single largest portfolio of sports rights of any global broadcaster. It has relationships with the IOC, UEFA, FIFA, the English Premier League, LaLiga, the NBA, the NFL, Wimbledon, USTA, Tennis Australia, FFT, the ATP and WTA. beIN also the official domestic broadcaster of the FIFA World Cup 2022.
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.
He was previously a senior commercial lawyer for the International Cricket Council; was senior counsel for UEFA.