James Pearce

Background

About James Pearce

I'm a senior sports executive with 30 years of international experience and success both within enterprise and startup environments. I have led and managed high-profile major events, marketing activations, and sport development initiatives throughout the world including extensive work across USA, Latin America, Asia-Pacific and EMEA dealing with rightsholders, venues, brands, agencies, leagues, federations and governments. I was one of the key architects at Major League Baseball behind the creation and development of the World Baseball Classic, an event styled on other sports’ World Cups. As the Tournament Director, I oversaw the event’s planning, management and P&L through all four editions since its 2006 inception, developing the property into baseball’s most lucrative international event with revenue in excess of $100 million and attendance that topped 1 million in 2017. While with MLB, I delivered initiatives in 40+ countries including more than 20 MLB regular season series and exhibitions. My most notable productions include the award-winning event delivery and lauded transformation of the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground for MLB’s 2014 season opener between the Dodgers and Diamondbacks. Also, working closely with the White House and Cuban government, I led the planning and execution of the historic game in Havana between Tampa Bay and the Cuban National team attended by Barack Obama and Raul Castro in 2016. Earlier in my career, I focused heavily on sport development including managing MLB’s international market development activities. In that role, I managed multiple youth development, elite performance and marketing programs and advised baseball’s world governing body and national baseball federations on their own development efforts. I also played a key role in establishing a dedicated development agency in the UK, BaseballSoftballUK, on which I served as a Board Director and worked closely with the CEO creating and overseeing programs that led to participation growth of more than 150%.