SPORTS BUSINESS JOURNAL: Legends expands roles of Chad Estis, Bill Rhoda

Integration of the two companies is nearly complete

Via Sports Business Journal

By Bret McCormick

In some of the final major moves of Legends’ integration of ASM Global, Legends has elevated Chad Estis to EVP & Chief Revenue Officer, while Bill Rhoda has been named EVP/Business Development, a newly created role working across Legends and ASM Global. The combination process began last August when Legends closed its $2.325B acquisition of ASM Global creating a massive, global company with nearly 80,000 part-time and full-time employees (9,000 full-time), hundreds of clients and a presence in sponsorship and premium sales, feasibility and market studies, project management, food and beverage service, and venue management, among other sports business verticals.

“We’ve made some smaller acquisitions, but I’ve never been a part of integrating something as significant as ASM,” said Estis, who has been with Legends since its creation in 2008. “It’s exciting meeting a lot of new people, learning about their business, trying to make quick decisions so we can get integrated. The faster we get integrated, the sooner we can begin to make an impact.”

Rhoda, who joined Legends in 2011 when CSL was acquired, will sit atop a centralized business development team working across the newly combined company and report to Estis. Legends historically kept business development efforts siloed within each of its divisions. Estis, who is alsoEVP/Business Operations for the Cowboys, will continue reporting to Legends CEO Dan Levy. And Estis has picked up some of formerco-President & COO Mike Tomon’s responsibilities — after Tomon recently left to become the Texans president — in addition to the nearly full-time job of reorganizing the new Legends.

That began almost immediately after the acquisition — first announced in the summer of 2023 — closed late last summer, with ASM Global CEO Ron Bension one of the first to depart. Whether their role was eliminated or not, other former ASM Global executives have left in the months since, a natural byproduct of merging two huge companies possessing many similar job descriptions and high-earning executives. That said, job eliminations only measured a single-digit percentage of the total workforce, largely because of the interlocking nature of the two companies’ businesses.

One longtime ASM Global employee being elevated in the process is Doug Thornton, who has run the Superdome in New Orleans since 1997 and was over ASM Global’s stadium theater and arena business. He’s been named President, North American Venues for Legends/ASM Global and, in addition to the venue operations business, Legends’ project development vertical will also sit under his expanded purview. This week’s Super Bowl is being held at the ASM Global-managed Superdome.

Other leaders within Estis’ team include: Mike Behan, President, College; Chris Hibbs, President, Partnerships; Mike Ondrejko, President, Sales; Matt O’Neil, Chief Content & Experience Officer; and Ben Wrigley, President, CSL International. The commercial partnerships and premium sales teams from ASM Global have joined Hibbs’ and Ondrejko’s teams, respectively. And Tom Funk, who was hired by Legends last year to run its F&B division, is now overseeing ASM Global’s F&B entity, Savor. Along with Estis, Funk and Thornton will report directly to Legends’ CEO, Levy.

One bit of unfinished business remains: the fate of the ASM Global brand. Its future isn’t yet clear but it’s likely the company is moving toward a single brand in the future.