Headquarters Washington D.C. Parent SFX Sports Group Founded 1970 | Services Marketing, Management Founder Donald Dell Type of business Private | |
Industry Sports management, Event production Key people Donald Dell (Former CEO) | ||
Company profile proserv
Professional Services Inc., (ProServ) was one of the first sports management firms. Initially focused on tennis, the company would grow to become among the world's largest sports marketing, athlete management, event production, and TV companies.
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Background
ProServ was created in 1970 in Washington, D.C. by attorney and former professional tennis player and U.S. Davis Cup captain Donald Dell and Frank Craighill. Their first clients were Dell’s Davis Cup teammates Arthur Ashe and Stan Smith. At its peak, ProServ represented more than 200 professional athletes and coaches, including Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing, Stan Smith, Arthur Ashe, Gabriela Sabatini and Jimmy Connors. The company also managed and promoted professional sporting events and created ProServ Television to handle sports television production and rights representation.
Acquisition
Personal problems among partners and CEO Donald Dell caused many key people to leave. Frank Craighill, who was a partner and president, left ProServ in 1983 to start Advantage International, which was acquired by Interpublic Group in 1997. In the face of mounting losses ProServ was acquired in 1999 by SFX Sports Group (itself now a subsidiary of Clear Channel Entertainment).