John Kristick

John Kristick joined Playfly Premier Partnerships as president in July 2018. He works with company founders Randy Bernstein and Alan Rothenberg and the existing leadership team to define and implement company strategy while managing the company’s key business relationships with leaders in the sports and entertainment industry.

He is a senior sports marketing executive with more than 30 years of experience working on the management, sales, and marketing of major sports properties.

Prior to joining Premier, as the executive director of the United Bid Committee for Canada, Mexico and United States, John led a three-country team with the responsibility for organizing the successful bid to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup in North America. It was the most extensive sports event bid ever produced, adhering to FIFA’s detailed bid requirements. Building upon his previous role as managing director of the US Bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the role tapped John’s leadership skills by involving all facets of stakeholder management at the federal, regional and city government, stadium and facility levels across the three countries.

Before his current appointment, John spent more than six years with WPP, a global advertising and marketing services company. He joined WPP’s GroupM in 2011 as Global CEO of GroupM ESP to build its entertainment and sports practice. He oversaw GroupM ESP and IEG, in addition to coordinating the wider WPP network of agencies in the practice of sports. This led ultimately to the establishment of ESP Properties, WPP’s first dedicated sports agency to serve sports and entertainment rights holders, for which John served as the global CEO.

John’s involvement in international soccer spans more than two decades, as he has been involved in every FIFA World Cup since 1994, working on either sponsorship (1994 in the US and 1998 in France), broadcasting (2002 in South Korea/Japan and 2006 in Germany), bidding (representing bids at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia) or marketing support (via WPP agencies involved with FIFA or sponsors of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil).

Prior to 2009, John was based in Europe for 15 years, serving key roles for leading sports marketing companies. As executive director for Infront Sports & Media, he led all marketing and corporate communications from 2001 to 2008, with clients ranging across all sports, including soccer, basketball and winter sports. He also oversaw the company’s entry to the Asian market, with a specific focus in China.

He is a graduate of George Mason University with a degree in speech communications. John is married, has three children, and calls home the Eastern Shore of Maryland.