Sporting Kansas City announced this month that Jake Reid has been named Sporting Club CEO and President.
Reid assumes his new role having served as Sporting KC President since January 2016. He joined the organization in 2010 as the Vice President of Ticket Sales and Service before his promotion to Chief Revenue Officer in 2012.
“I'm still as passionate as I was on day one to be out there representing the ownership group and Sporting Kansas City as an organization,” Reid said. “But it's as much about representing Kansas City as it is about representing Sporting. We're still the second smallest market in MLS, but we feel like we're punching way above our weight class, which is a great representation of our city.”
Reid, 35, was formally recognized tonight as a member of the SportsBusiness Journal Forty Under 40 Class of 2018 during an awards ceremony at the JW Marriott Los Angeles, L.A. LIVE. Reid was one of 40 sports business professionals tabbed for excellence and innovation in their respective careers, all before the age of 40.
Reid succeeds Robb Heineman, who has held the role of Sporting Club CEO since August 2006. Heineman will remain a Sporting KC owner along with the Patterson family; Cliff Illig, vice chairman and co-founder of Cerner Corp.; Greg Maday chairman and CEO of SpecChem LLC and co-founder of Rock Island Capital LLC; and Pat Curran, founder and principal of C3 Capital LLC. Heineman will also continue as Co-Founder/Owner of FanThreeSixty, a sports technology company founded in 2011.
“Jake has done a great job of overseeing the growth of the organization for over two years now,” Heineman said. “For me, working with the staff and interacting with the fans has always been my favorite part of the job, and that will continue. Moving forward, we have plenty of work in front of us at FanThreeSixty, and that is where my focus needs to be.”
Under Reid’s leadership, Sporting Kansas City — winners of four major championships since 2012 and currently occupying first place in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference — has experienced substantial growth over the last eight years in season ticket sales, corporate sponsorships and merchandise and concession revenue. Reid is currently involved in the club’s chief endeavors, focusing primarily on growing the business through innovative partnerships, strategic fan development and providing the city an unparalleled entertainment experience.
Reid also oversees Pinnacle — the new, world-class training home of Sporting Kansas City — as well as Swope Soccer Village, Wyandotte Sporting Fields and No Other Pub, a restaurant and entertainment venue in the Kansas City Power & Light District.
Since Reid was appointed Chief Revenue Officer in 2012, Sporting Kansas City has sold all season tickets for six straight seasons. He was named the 2012 MLS Ticketing Executive of the Year and in 2013 led a staff that won MLS Ticket Sales Team of the Year. On the sponsorship side, Reid secured Ivy Funds as the club’s first-ever jersey sponsor in January 2013.
In 2015, Reid sealed a 10-year corporate partnership with Children’s Mercy Kansas City for the naming rights to Children’s Mercy Park as part of a youth health and pediatric sports medicine initiative. Thanks in part to his achievements, Sporting KC was recognized as Major League Soccer’s Corporate Sponsorship Team of the Year in 2014 and 2015.
In April 2016, Reid was included in the Ingram’s Magazine “Forty Under 40,” a group of Kansas Citians recognized for their leadership, civic engagement and contributions to charitable causes. Three months later, the Kansas City Business Journal named Reid a NextGen Leader for his well-rounded business contributions to Sporting Kansas City.
Reid earned another prestigious accolade in July 2017 when he was named to the Class of 2017 for the third annual Leaders Under 40 Awards, the global search for the best talent in sports business under the age of 40. Leaders and Aspire Academy awarded 42 candidates from 585 nominations worldwide over a nine-month selection process.
Outside of the Sporting Kansas City organization, Reid is a committee member for the Kansas City Sports Commission, The Victory Project and Boys Hope Girls Hope of Kansas City. He also helps run the Sporting Club Events business at Children’s Mercy Park and Three Points, a 1,400-square-foot event space in downtown Kansas City.
Reid began his career in the National Basketball Association, serving as an account executive with the New Orleans Pelicans and a sales manager with the Charlotte Hornets. He then moved to England to work for Derby County Football Club as a ticket sales manager, helping the club achieve the highest average attendance in the 2008-09 English Football Championship.
