Thank you, 2022!
Good morning from Cejih!
What a year 2022 has been. This summer CG Sports turned six years old! We had clients at our first Winter Olympics with the Beijing 2022 Games.
Gratitude has been the big theme of 2022. We are grateful to see our client roster grow to now include legacy sports podcasts as well as NCAA college coaches. Our relationship with tech companies like Google and Intuit expanded to include projects with Paralympian and retired Olympic legends.
We saw a return to more in-person events for our team and our athletes. Clinics, speaking appearances and networking events came storming back this year. Getting out to more events in 2023 is something we are looking forward to.
We are grateful for the new partnership we’ve formed with our friends at fellow sports agency Human Interest Group (HIG), led by industry veteran Heather Novickis. Continuing to work with Heather on new sponsorships in 2023 will be exciting.
Most of all, I’m incredibly grateful for all of our supporters of CG Sports. Our readers, fans, family, friends, sponsors and partners. You cheer on our athletes and you cheer on the team behind them. Without your support, this could not be possible.
Enjoy the rest of your year! Our newsletter will return on January 11th.
Love (actually),
Cejih & CG Sports Team
P.S. Nervous about missing upcoming news from CG Sports? Follow us on Instagram (@cgsportsco), Facebook (CG Sports Management), and, of course, our weekly newsletter.
Matt Amerlan | Vice President & Partner
What sticks out to me the most in 2022 is the term partnership and how important this is in every aspect of business. Towards the end of 2022, I accompanied our client (partner) Sports Business Radio on their live road show where they interviewed the President and COO of the Golden State Warriors, Brandon Schneider. During the conversation, he discussed his and the Warriors' view that they don’t feel they have “sponsors" but they have “partners.” I’m paraphrasing, but in short, they see the term “sponsorship" as being a one way relationship vs. the term “partnership" being a mutual relationship where both parties add value to each other, work together to achieve something. To me, this is such an important distinction. At CG Sports, I believe our many partnerships truly flourished in 2022.
Every aspect of what we do at CG Sports includes the concept of partnership from our wonderful team at CG Sports truly working in partnership together to achieve our goals, to our service partners that allow us to operate efficiently and achieve more (SponsorUnited, Pipedrive, Outfunnel, etc.). This also includes our amazing athlete and property clients who when it comes down to it really are our partners. When we work from the lens of partnership with our clients we are all bringing something to the table that yields great results. We look forward to continuing to work with all of our partners in 2023 to achieve even greater things.
Taylor Brien | Editor & Newsletter Manager
This has been my second year writing the CG Sports newsletter and what a year it has been! Early in the year, Nicole and I revamped the newsletter to create a more streamlined reading experience. The response was overwhelmingly positive and we are excited to continue to create a newsletter that people look forward to reading.
Writing the CG Sports newsletter has allowed me to continue with two of my greatest loves: writing and sports. I feel so fortunate to spend each Wednesday with all of our wonderful readers. The success of this newsletter would not be possible without you -- our readers. Thank you for sharing your inbox with us each week. I look forward to many more Wednesdays together!
We have lots of exciting projects in the works for 2023 and we are more than excited to share them with you!
Nicole Wurtele | Creative Director
2022 has been a solid year for CG Sports Co. and my growth within the company. At the beginning of the year, I was the graphic designer who created social graphics, pitch decks, and branding for our clients. This is of course an important role and one I still have today, but now I have a bigger part in walking our clients through their Brand Camp journey. It’s always a pleasure to work with all of our amazing clients and see their faces light up when they see their branding or project come to life.
I feel that CG Sports Co. has fine-tuned a lot of things that may not be evident on the outside, but has made it much more efficient in how the company runs and how we meet our client’s needs. We have been having a lot of thoughtful conversations this month about how to make CG Sports Co. even better for 2023! I love working with people who have a growth mindset and are always looking for ways to be better. Here’s to a new year!
Dane Vanderkaay | Manager of Athlete Partnerships
In 2022, I wanted to reflect on how at CG Sports we've been able to continue to adapt and transform our product offerings to fit the market. There are so many ways our athletes can contribute to a brand and we've done a great job in outlining this to make our athletes attractive to partner with. I also think operationally we've made huge strides in 2022 whether its automation or process enhancement our team has only gotten better and executing on our clients behalf. Now that we have amazing operations in place I can't wait to see what the future holds for CG Sports in 2023!
Lisa Vetterlein | Accounting Bookkeeper
I am always amazed that I continue to relearn the same lessons:
When life gets stressful – have a go-to destress plan.
Surround yourself with great people.
Always look for a silver lining or blessing in tough circumstances.
Strive to be any of the above.
