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Sports powerhouse Learfield IMG College names successor to longtime CEO Greg Brown – The Dallas Morning News


Learfield IMG College, the Plano-based sports marketing powerhouse, is naming a successor to longtime chief executive Greg Brown.

The company announced Brown’s retirement Friday and said Cole Gahagan, who joined Learfield in January as president of content, revenue and enterprise solutions, will succeed him. Following a transition, Brown will become co-chairman of Learfield’s board of directors.

“It’s been the privilege of a lifetime to be associated with the great people of this company and the collegiate sports industry for the past 36 years,” Brown said in a statement. “When Cole joined us in January, I had in my mind transitioning to this new role later in 2020. But with college sports on virtual hold, this lull is an ideal time for the company leadership to transition now.”

Gahagan previously served as chief commercial officer of Fanatics Inc., chief revenue officer for Ticketmaster and senior vice president of business development and strategy for Live Nation.

Brown, who succeeded founder Clyde Lear as CEO in 2009, helped grow Learfield from its humble beginnings in 1972 as a farm radio network heard over six Missouri stations into one of the nation’s top broadcasting, branding and sponsorship companies for collegiate sports programs. He started with the company in 1984 by selling sponsorships for the Iowa State Cyclone Radio Network.

He guided Learfield through a series of acquisitions and a $2 billion merger with IMG College in 2018. The company now represents more than 1,000 collegiate athletic programs, conferences and arenas.

For the last three years, trade publication Sports Business Journal has recognized Brown as one of the 50 most influential people in sports business.

Gahagan said he wants to leverage the company’s technology expertise in data mining, digital tools and content to “usher the collegiate athletics industry into a new era of growth.”

“Over the last several years, we have evolved from serving as an asset creation and sales company to a fully integrated media and tech leader — and we’re only getting started,” he said.



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