Dave Beeston will lead the unit as ceo
US media, leisure and company Friedkin Group, the main shareholder of Serie A team AS Roma, said it launched Pursuit Sports which will group the Italian club, AS Cannes (French Championnat National 2) and Everton FC (Premier League) (press release).
Dave Beeston will be teh ceo of the unit and report to Dan Friedkin, the chairman and ceo of Friedkin Group. “The launch of Pursuit Sports marks an exciting new chapter in The Friedkin Group’s vision to elevate and empower world-class sports organisations. Through this platform, we can do more than just support our high performing teams: we are investing in their long-term success by bringing together the full force of our global experience, resources and pursuit of excellence. Beeston is a trusted leader, full of wisdom and experience on how to build high-performance sports businesses. Under his dynamic leadership, each of our clubs will be able to compete at the highest level, while preserving the identity and passion that make them unique.”, Friedkin said.
Beeston previously acted as ceo of Clearlake Capital Group and worked at Fenway Sports Group as co-head of Fenway Sports Management, executive vice-president and chief strategy officer of Boston Red Sox, and deputy governor of the Pittsburgh Penguins. In these positions, Beeston defined and implemented the Fenway Sports Group’s overall growth strategy, including the acquisition of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the 1.5 billion US Dollars investment of Strategic Sports Group in PGA Tour Enterprises.
Beeston said: “I am delighted to join Pursuit Sports and am grateful to Dan and the entire Friedkin family for entrusting me with this incredible opportunity. Their vision, determination and passion for building exceptional operations across all their brands is inspiring. Our first responsibility at Pursuit Sports is to build an organisation and culture that meets the standards of the Friedkin Group. By focusing on people and data-driven decision-making, we will use our reach, knowledge and experience to unleash and empower the leadership of each of our clubs, enabling them to realise their full potential and pursue success in the leagues. We will use the same rigorous decision-making process to evaluate further opportunities to expand our family of clubs in the future.”
Friedkin delisted AS Roma from Milan exchange in September 2022 after having launched a public offer in July 2022 (see here a previous post by BeBeez). The team refinanced its liabilities with the support of institutional investors such as Apollo Global Management and Athene Holding (see here a previous post by BeBeez).
In March 2025, Friedkin Group opened Rome’s Auberge Resorts Collection.
