Atherton Communications was founded in 1994 by Kent Atherton, a
highly accomplished sports media/marketing executive with a unique
combination of corporate leadership and experience as entrepreneur
leading start-ups, managing sales teams and producing marquee
events. Mr. Atherton has produced $150+ million in TV sports
sponsorship revenue as the senior executive of four companies active
in developing and distributing televised sports content. He has also
served as chief marketing officer for new Silicon Valley-based,
internet video technology company where he was on the forefront of
advances in marketing streaming media and content delivery networks.
Prior to returning to lead his sports advisory firm, Mr. Atherton
most recently served as Vice President Sports at DIRECTV in New
York, where he supervised revenue-generation for all sports
programming assets including NFL Sunday Ticket, MLB Extra Innings,
NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, NASCAR Hot Pass, NBA, NHL and
college football, along with proprietary interactive channels for
Summer & Winter Olympic games and major events in professional golf
& tennis. Kent also launched the blimp marketing program for DIRECTV and developed the first digital (broadband &
mobile) sponsorship platform for Live streaming of NFL Sunday Ticket
games.
Before joining DIRECTV, Mr. Atherton served as president & chief
operating officer of Ginn Sports Entertainment, LLC (GSE), a
division of FL-based Ginn Resorts, developer/manager of high-end
residential golf resorts and private clubs throughout the US and
Caribbean. GSE was launched by Mr. Atherton following the successful
debut of the LPGA Tour event he created, the Ginn Open, which is
held at Reunion Resort in Orlando. Under his supervision, GSE
launched two additional professional golf tournaments on the PGA
Champions Tour and LPGA Tour. All three tournaments were widely
acclaimed as among the premier events in professional golf. GSE also
managed a sponsorship portfolio of professional golfers (including
Annika Sorenstam, Cristie Kerr, Lucas Glover) and led the company’s
extensive corporate marketing efforts as team-owner in NASCAR.
From 2003-2006, Kent served as founding president and chief
executive officer of Pantheon International, LLC a specialized
sports marketing & event production company, which created
high-profile sports properties across the US. In 2002, Pantheon
acquired the intellectual property of Atherton Communications, LLC
to form its three core business divisions – Events, Athlete
Management and Media Sales. The firm specialized in providing unique
corporate marketing platforms through its high profile sporting
events. Pantheon’s core properties included two events created by
Mr. Atherton, the John R. Wooden Classic and John R. Wooden
Tradition college basketball invitational events, held in honor of
the Hall of Fame coaching legend.
Kent established his formidable sports marketing career at CBS
(Westinghouse Broadcasting) and became founding manager of Group W
Sports Marketing in New York, NY where he played a vital role in
developing the first national sponsorship advertising platform for
the regional sports network industry and professional sports teams
throughout the NBA, NHL and MLB.
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