Mike Francesa, for decades the leading voice of New York sports via his longtime afternoon drive perch on all-sports pioneer WFAN, is kicking off a new digital chapter. In partnership with  with CAA Sports and Entercom, Francesa is launching a subscription service on Friday that complements his daily WFAN show, Mike’s…

CAA Sports padded its stats last night, with nine of its clients being selected in the first round of the NFL Draft. It says that ties the record for most by any agency, set by CAA Sports in 2009. The agency had three of the top 10 picks in Philadelphia on Thursday night: No. 3 Solomon Thomas from Stanford (San…

Chinese exhibitor Jiangsu Omnijoi has inked a deal to install an additional 40 IMAX theatre systems in new multiplexes across Tier One to Tier Four cities in China. The companies expect the majority of the sites to be open by the end of 2020, with the remaining sites to open by the end of 2021. The agreement will…

CAA has promoted 10 agency trainees to agent or executive status. Angela Dallas and Ali Spiesman have been promoted to agent in the Television department, with Dallas to be based in L.A. and Spiesman in New York. David Ball, Janet Kim, Lanell Rumion, Ben Schildkraut and Phil Quist have been promoted to agent in CAA's…

The backfield’s in motion for sports marketing. The latest development: Creative Artists Agency’s CAA Sports just acquired London-based sports marketing agency brandrapport. The 25-employee group specializes in sports corporate consulting and “experiential” marketing. Its client list includes Allianz, Jaguar Land…

It wasn’t that long ago when CAA‘s foray into the sports game was eyed with some skepticism. That was before WME’s acquisition of IMG, a property that CAA also chased until it dropped out when the bidding got crazy. CAA is still adding to its sports department, the latest move coming with the acquisition of corporate…

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (April 2, 2013) – Roc Nation, a full-service entertainment company founded by Shawn "JAY Z" Carter, announced today the launch of Roc Nation Sports, a full-service sports management company, and has signed MLB All-Star Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees. Roc Nation Sports, led by Carter and…

UPDATE: Often described as one of the most prominent baseball player agents in sports, Casey Close was considered a real “get” for CAA Sports division when he arrived back in April 2006 from IMG when CAA raided several agents from there to set up its new division. So his departure when his 5-year contract expires next…

2ND UPDATE 2:20 PM: Sources are now telling me the investment in CAA is tantamount to “hundreds of millions of dollars” in equity and TPG-lined up debt based on a huge valuation of the agency more than double what’s been previously estimated as its worth. One insider this afternoon put the number at $350 million…

I’ve heard from multiple sources that, after months and months of pursuing potential financial partners, CAA probably won’t obtain that big fat investment from KKR. (CAA Negotiating $200M Investment From KKR.) The NYC-based private equity firm whose full name is Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co, seemed on track to invest…

UPDATED: You know that LeBron James hourlong primetime sports special The Decision tonight all about where he’s going to play next season? Well, it was not put together by LeBron James’ sports agency CAA. According to my Hollywood agency sources, Ari Emanuel of arch-rival tenpercentery WME was at one of the NBA…

That’s what the informative sports blog ProFootballTalk.com is reporting. And I think they make a compelling case for it. Especially when only 15 to 20 agents represent 700-plus players under contract with NFL teams. Depending on how many of those players make the final rosters in September, that handful of…