Sports Media Agent Josh Santry Leaving CAA to Become Talent Executive at DAZN

Josh Santry is leaving his job as a sports media agent at CAA to become VP of Talent at DAZN, The Big Lead has learned from a person familiar with the matter. Unauthorized to speak publicly on the matter, the person requested anonymity.

Santry’s clients included Jessica Mendoza, Ryan Ruocco, Joe Davis, Clay Travis, Nick Wright, Kayce Smith, Rob Perez, Dan Orlovsky, and Jim Jackson. He had joined CAA in 2017 from IF Management (which merged with The Montag Group). The exit from CAA is amicable and it’s expected that most if not all clients will remain with the agency.

DAZN is the subscription streaming outlet that is part of the London-based Perform Group, owned by billionaire Len Blavatnik, where former ESPN president John Skipper is executive chairman.

In America, the biggest splash DAZN — which costs about $10 per month — has made was with a record breaking deal to air Canelo Alvarez fights. They also have Bellator events, and will be launching an MLB highlights show during every weeknight of baseball season in a deal that reportedly totaled hundreds of millions of dollars.

Internationally, Skipper has gone on record saying that DAZN wants to be aggressive in pursuing live rights deals wherever they come available. Rights range from exclusive Serie A games in Italy to the Nippon baseball league in Japan. They air the NFL, MLB, and MLS in Canada. They’re also available in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria; Skipper said that their goal is to be up in 20 countries by the end of 2019.

They’ll need to find broadcasters to fill these rapidly-opening positions, and that’s what Santry will be doing. This isn’t a perfect analogy, but it’s a bit like how we’ve seen agents like Rob Pelinka and Brody Van Waganen become general managers of the Lakers and Mets, respectively, or when a stock research analyst joins a hedge fund — going from the sell side to the buy side of an industry where they have expertise.

Whether or not DAZN ultimately succeeds, it will be interesting to watch this all transpire.