Fanatics names former Beats and MTV executive as new CMO for betting and gaming

In a clear indication that Fanatics is moving closer to launching a betting product, the sports e-commerce, retail, and collectibles giant has hired former Beats by Dre and MTV marketing exec Jason White as the first chief marketing officer for Fanatics Betting & Gaming, the company’s online sports betting and iGaming division.

White joins with a deep résumé of marketing and advertising experience across sports and culture. He helped lead the Nike business at ad agency Wieden+Kennedy before becoming managing director of the agency’s Shanghai office. From there he was at Beats by Dre for almost five years, helping to create award-winning campaigns like 2015’s “Straight Outta” work. Between then and joining MTV early last year, White was chief marketing officer at cannabis company Curaleaf.

Fanatics sees White’s experience in both emerging categories and bridging brands and culture as a perfect match for its ambitions in North America’s nascent sports betting market, and he’ll be leading the division’s marketing, advertising, and content.

Matt King, CEO of Fanatics Betting & Gaming, said in a statement, “As this competitive space continues to evolve, Jason will be invaluable to our long-term strategy of creating a dynamic and innovative product offering for all sports fans.”

That long-term strategy appears to be accelerating. Last year, Fanatics hired King, the former CEO of FanDuel, to run its betting and gaming division, which it has gradually been building in anticipation of the market—and the regulation of it—maturing to the point when the company believes it’s time to jump in.

Tucker Kain, Fanatics chief strategy and growth officer (who joined from the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2021) told me earlier this year that the Fanatics model is to build and be ready at the right moment.

“If an opportunity hits all three criteria, we need to be ready to move,” Kain said. “That’s a healthy tension. Our job is to be aware of the opportunities and start building up for them over time, and then when the opportunity coalesces, our pace needs to accelerate. That’s the balance in being thoughtful and strategic in our thinking, and then really nimble and fast in how we execute.”

There are currently more than 80 job openings listed on the Fanatics careers page, and in a recent interview with Colin Cowherd on The Volume podcast, company founder Michael Rubin said he expects to be taking bets by the end of this year.