Jeff Moorad
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Jeffrey S. Moorad is an American businessman and investor. He began his career as a
sports agent A sports agent is a legal representative (hence agent (law), agent) for professional sports figures such as athletes and coaches. They procure and negotiate employment and Testimonial, endorsement contracts for the principal (commercial law), at ...
, before serving as General Partner and CEO of MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks, and Vice-Chairman and CEO of MLB's
San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...
.


Player representation

Moorad began specializing in athlete representation in 1983. He concentrated on
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
and signed a number of athletes, including Will Clark and four other members of the
United States national baseball team The United States national baseball team, also known as Team USA, represents the United States in international level baseball competitions. The team is currently ranked 5th in the world by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. The United S ...
in the
1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...
. In 1985 he partnered with Leigh Steinberg, and the two would go on to work together for eighteen years and negotiate more than $3 billion in athlete contracts. Their firm, 'Steinberg & Moorad,' represented such athletes as Steve Young, Troy Aikman, Warren Moon, Manny Ramirez, CC Sabathia, Vernon Wells, Edgerrin James, Ed Reed, Pat Burrell, Darin Erstad, Adam Dunn, Luis Gonzalez, Orlando Hernandez, Thurman Thomas, Eric Karros,
Iván Rodríguez Iván Rodríguez Torres (born November 27, 1971), nicknamed "Pudge" and "I-Rod", is a Puerto Rican former professional baseball catcher who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the Texas Rangers (baseball), Texas Ran ...
, Mo Vaughn, Shawn Green, and Raul Mondesi, among many others. 'Steinberg & Moorad' was sold in October 1999 to the Assante Corporation, a Canadian asset management firm, for a reported $120 million. Moorad was named to The Sporting News’ annual 100 Most Powerful People in Sports on eight occasions.


Major League Baseball


Arizona Diamondbacks

In 2004, Moorad became an owner and CEO of the Arizona Diamondbacks. He owned close to 12% of the team, estimated to be worth around $18 million in 2009. While with Arizona, Moorad was a General Partner, Chief Executive Officer, the spokesman for the Diamondbacks’ ownership group, and oversaw the day-to-day operations of the franchise.


San Diego Padres

In 2009, Moorad put together a group to buy the
San Diego Padres The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. ...
from John Moores. Moorad and his group of 12 investors (including former client Troy Aikman, billionaire Chairman/CEO of Save Mart Supermarkets Bob Piccinini, and then-CEO of
Panda Express Panda Express is an American fast food restaurant chain that specializes in American Chinese cuisine. With over 2,400 locations, it is the largest Asian-segment restaurant chain in the United States, and is mainly located in North America and Asi ...
Tom Davin) began purchase of the team with Moorad serving as club CEO and Vice-Chairman. The sale was valued at about $500 million, and the group planned to purchase the team over five years. During this time, Moorad's group also purchased the Padres' minor league Triple-A team, the Portland Beavers. In 2010, Moorad was named one of San Diego's Most Admired CEOs by the San Diego Business Journal. In April 2012, Moorad negotiated a new TV deal that would lead to the creation of Fox Sports San Diego, and bring in over $1.2 billion for the Padres over the next 20 years. By 2011, Moorad had sold his 12% share of the Diamondbacks. By January 2012, Moorad and his group held 49% ownership of the Padres, when MLB deferred voting on approval for the group to complete the sale with Moores. In March 2012, Moorad withdrew the group's application to complete the full purchase of the Padres. He stepped down as CEO of the Padres later that month, but remained with the team as Vice-Chairman. Some media outlets speculated that Moorad was short of the needed support of 22 MLB team owners to complete the purchase of the Padres, though only two were suspected of opposing completion of the purchase. Moores declared that the entire team was up for sale again in April, citing the good opportunity in the market after the record $2 billion sale of the
Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...
; Moorad's minority group would receive 49% of the proceeds of any sale of the Padres. Moorad was succeeded by Ron Fowler as lead of the group of any owners transferring ownership to the new purchase. In August, the Padres were sold for $800 million, a $300 million increase over the valuation in Moorad's 2009 purchase.


Moorad Sports Partners

In 2013, with partner Greg Byrnes, Moorad founded Moorad Sports Partners, an investment management company that pursues opportunities in sports-related businesses, including the purchase and management of professional sports franchises.


PrimeSport

In February 2015, Moorad Sports Partners, along with the Carlyle Group and RSE Ventures, acquired PrimeSport Holdings Inc., a global sports travel and events-management company. Moorad served as PrimeSport's Chairman until its sale to On Location Experiences at the end of 2017.


Family Circle Tennis Center

In October 2017, Moorad Sports Partners, along with musician Darius Rucker, acquired the long-term rights to the Family Circle Tennis Center in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
. The center consists of 17 courts, including the 10,200-seat Volvo Car Stadium. The center hosts concerts, outdoor events, and tennis tournaments, including the WTA Tour's Charleston Open.


Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius

In September 2017, Moorad joined global law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP, where he serves as a partner and Chairman of the firm's global sports practice. Moorad leads a team of more than 50 lawyers assisting clients on sports matters such as stadium and team finance, mergers and acquisitions, media rights, intellectual property, labor and employment, tax, litigation, retail and merchandising, antitrust regulations, and other sports business issues.Moorad new Morgan Lewis co-head of sports, to work out of L.A. area
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Moorad also serves as a principal of Morgan Lewis Consulting, which helps businesses navigate through complex regulatory and legal issues in the U.S. and abroad.


MSP Sports Capital

In 2019, Moorad along with partners Jahm Najafi, Arne Rees, and Steve Wasserman, formed MSP Sports Capital, a sports investment company with targeted equity and debt investments in properties at the intersection of sports, global media rights, distribution technologies, content creation, sponsorship, esports, betting, and data. MSP is headquartered in New York City. In July 2019, MSP partnered with David Blitzer and Blitz Capital to acquire G.D. Estoril Praia, a Portuguese football club in Estoril, Cascais. Later that year, in September, MSP partnered with Blitz Capital and former Real Madrid executive Ivan Bravo to acquire AD Alcorcón, a Spanish football club based in Madrid. In 2020, MSP bought a "significant" minority stake in the McLaren Racing team, with Moorad being named to its board of directors. In October 2022, MSP acquired a majority stake in the X Games from
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
. The MSP investors include skateboarding legend
Tony Hawk Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first docume ...
, who will serve as a brand steward and join the action sports league’s advisory board.
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
retained a minority interest in the company, and will serve as the X Games domestic linear broadcast partner as part of a multi-year agreement.


Other business

In 1993, Moorad and Steinberg were part of a group that founded Integrated Sports International, which consulted with teams, venues, and corporations on their sports sponsorship and marketing initiatives. ISI also represented athletes and coaches for marketing and broadcasting opportunities. ISI was sold to SFX Entertainment in 1999. In 1998, Moorad and Steinberg, along with their head of media and investment initiatives, Tyler Goldman, founded Athlete Direct. Athlete Direct managed the official websites and social media platforms of professional athletes, including many Steinberg & Moorad clients. Moorad and Steinberg remained involved until the company's 1999 deal with Sequoia Capital and Redpoint Ventures. Moorad served on the Board of Directors for Oakley, Inc., until the sale of the company to Italian manufacturer, Luxottica. Moorad also served on the Board of Directors for Citizen Sports Network, a digital sports & entertainment company, until its sale to
Yahoo! Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, and its a ...
in 2010. Moorad previously owned
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...
team Hall of Fame Racing.


Entertainment business

Moorad and Steinberg appeared in and served as technical consultants for the 1996
Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
-winning picture '' Jerry Maguire.'' Moorad and Steinberg were the inspiration behind the Jerry Maguire character played by
Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV (born July 3, 1962) is an American actor and film producer. Regarded as a Cinema of the United States, Hollywood icon, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Tom Cruise, various accolades, includ ...
. Moorad was the baseball technical consultant for the Universal picture '' For Love of the Game'' and had a cameo appearance in the movie.


Community work

Moorad encouraged his clients to donate millions of dollars to charities and their communities, including their own non-profit foundations and alma maters. Moorad himself endowed a $100,000 baseball scholarship to his alma mater
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
, where he has taught a 'Business of Sports' class at UCLA's Anderson School of Management since 2013. In February 2012, Moorad committed $5 million to his alma mater Villanova University School of Law for the creation of The Jeffrey S. Moorad Center for the Study of Sports Law. After Moorad's good friend Augie Nieto (founder, Chairman, and CEO of
Life Fitness Life Fitness / Hammer Strength is an American fitness company specializing in the production and distribution of cardiovascular and strength training equipment under several brands including Life Fitness, Cybex and Hammer Strength. It is headqua ...
) was diagnosed with
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, Terminal illness, terminal neurodegenerative disease, neurodegenerative disorder that results i ...
in 2005, Moorad has been active in helping to raise funds to find a cure for ALS. Moorad serves as a Vice President of the Muscular Dystrophy Association and is on the board of the Translational Genomics Research Institute, both of which he has helped partner with Augie's Quest. Moorad has also served as a chairperson of Childhelp's Drive the Dream Gala.


Education

A native of Modesto, California, Moorad served as student body president of Modesto Junior College, where he graduated with an
Associate of Arts An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree ...
degree. He then went on to obtain a
Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...
in Political Science from
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
in 1978, and a
Juris Doctor A Juris Doctor, Doctor of Jurisprudence, or Doctor of Law (JD) is a graduate-entry professional degree that primarily prepares individuals to practice law. In the United States and the Philippines, it is the only qualifying law degree. Other j ...
from Villanova University School of Law in 1981. Moorad lives in Newport Beach, California, and has three sons.


See also

* * List of San Diego Padres owners and executives


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moorad, Jeff American people of Iranian-Assyrian descent American sports agents Arizona Diamondbacks executives Arizona Diamondbacks owners Living people NASCAR team owners San Diego Padres executives San Diego Padres owners Year of birth missing (living people) American corporate directors Villanova University School of Law alumni American chief executives of professional sports organizations