Wasps Appoints New Commercial Director
Wasps has appointed Stuart Cain as the club’s new commercial director, with the aim of increasing usage of the Ricoh Arena’s event facilities.
Stuart Cain joins the Aviva Premiership club after seven years at the NEC Group as managing director – commercial marketing.
During that time, he built The Ticket Factory, selling over 2.5 million tickets per annum and brokered multi-million pound naming rights deals with brands such as Barclaycard and Genting.
In addition to his work at the NEC Group, he also joins Wasps with experience of developing global sales and marketing strategies in sport. As managing partner (sport) at Mindshare/WPP he worked internationally with brands such as Castrol, BP, Nike/Umbro and Ford on their involvement with the FIFA World Cup, NFL, MLS and London 2012.
He was also commercial director at Glasgow Rangers FC where he managed their international expansion strategy and the launch of an online TV channel, as well as Wolverhampton Wanderers FC where he introduced a range of initiatives making sport more accessible to the city’s diverse communities at a local level and internationally through the Indian sub-continent.
Cain, who played rugby union at club level for 20 years, said: “I’m looking forward to drawing on my commercial, marketing and media experience within sport and live events to help develop Wasps’ and the Ricoh Arena’s talented, driven commercial team.
“Wasps have laid down very strong foundations in the community since they moved to the Midlands two and a half years ago and can only continue to go from strength-to-strength.”
Nick Eastwood, chief executive of the Wasps Group, added: “We look forward to welcoming Stuart to our established, thriving team as we build upon a successful 2016/17 season. We are excited by the expertise and extra leadership Stuart will bring to the business as we approach our third year in the West Midlands and our 150th anniversary season as a club.”
