The FAI is on a roll at present with victory secured in the race to host part of Euro 2020 and a team that is performing well under the box office friendly management of Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane.
Keane’s travails this week will pass but a tougher blow has been landed on the Association with the breaking news this morning that Commercial Director Max Hamilton is to leave at the end of the year.
Hamilton has decided to return to London for personal reasons and to pursue his career in international sports marketing from there.
He came to the FAI three years ago, having worked in the global hothouse of the NBA as Senior Director of Marketing and Partnerships. Prior to that he had built a powerful ten year foundation in advertising in London, Hong Kong and Sydney.
The international experience was a big winner for the FAI at a difficult time when results on the pitch were not great and the burden of the Aviva Stadium debt was weighing heavy.
Hamilton was a key element in re-signing Three as principal sponsor and enhancing the FAI sponsorship proposition while renewing key relationships with SSE Airtricity, Ford, Aviva, Nivea, DHL, Diageo, Lucozade and EA Sports. He also drove new partnerships with McDonalds, Heatons, Continental Tyres and Independent News and Media.
Record
A new record in doubling season ticket sales was achieved this year, despite starting off with Gibraltar as the only competitive home fixture for the whole of 2014.
The stadium experience is improved, the sport is walking with a swagger again and while that is down to many different constituent parts, he was one that had a greater part to play than most.
Working closely with CEO John Delaney the two made a strong partnership covering the necessary political and grassroots empathy on one hand with the ability to close a deal on the other.
His easy manner was key in building relationships with the major sponsors and saw the commercial team expand to keep up with the new income and the innovative demands of Three and others. Sometimes it was the simple things like managing O’Neill and Keane to do a series of corporate events together around the launch of the Club Ireland initiative.
At other times it was negotiating for Liverpool to come and play at the Aviva Stadium with the FAI as a promoter and selling out twice in 9 months.
Positive
Hamilton was always willing to deflect credit but has been a strong positive force at the Association as it turned on a more positive path in the last couple of years.
His loss to the world of Irish sports marketing will be keenly felt but the opportunity to be involved as preparations build for 2020 will hopefully attract someone of equal calibre.
Hamilton will leave on a high with at least two significant new commercial partnership announcements to be made over the coming weeks.
On a personal note we wish him well, we thank him for his support over the last three years and we look forward to our paths crossing at some point in the future.
The Head of Sports Sponsorship for YouTube will deliver the keynote address at our one day conference on Digital Sport on November 27th. A limited number of tickets are still available. Click for details.
