MUMBAI: After close to two years with Nimbus Sport as its general manager, Varun Mathur has decided to take a big leap but within the confines of his expertise - sports management and marketing.

Mathur will be partnering with ITW managing director and CEO Vikram Tanwar to lead the new initiative called ITW Sport+. 

Speaking to Indiantelevision.com about his new venture, Mathur says, “I will be leading the new initiative as a shareholder and director.”

Mathur will be based out of Delhi NCR.

The new unit will be focussed on three key areas. The company will be involved with rights management in non-cricket sports like football, Formula 1 and tennis amongst others. It will also look at acquiring and managing digital rights of sports. Additionally, ITW Sport+ will also explore third party right management of athletes and sports celebrities in the sports ecosystem.

“The focus will be on representation of football teams in the Indian Super League, various Kabaddi teams and sports consulting too,” informs Mathur. 

Talking about the core thought behind the new initiative, he says, “Currently there is a huge empty space in the sports ecosystem for a large size sports management firm. There are many players who are doing smaller chunks of business but there is no large consolidated player. We want to change that element and are going to occupying that space.”

As far a cricket is concerned, Mathur informs that ITW already has its presence there as it looks after most of the bilateral cricketing series rights.

ITW, as a sports management company, specializes in consulting in sports rights acquisition and negotiation, licensing, concept development, in stadia branding among others. It also holds rights for international cricket.

At Nimbus, Mathur was responsible for several key deals. These include bagging a XOLO (Lava Smartphone) for the EPL club, Liverpool FC and signing of ISL team Atletico De Kolkata with the telco as Aircel as its first principle sponsor.