Chris Heck, president of business operations at upwardly-mobile English Premier League soccer club Aston Villa, will leave his role when the 2024-25 season comes to an end in May.
Villa unveiled the news earlier today, with Heck now expected, GlobalData Sport (Sportcal) understands, to take up the same role at the controversial and lucrative LIV Golf series.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Since joining the Birmingham soccer club in May 2023, Heck has led Villa's off-field efforts, including securing record revenue in the 2023-24 season (in which the men's team qualified for the prestigious UEFA Champions League for the first time in many years). The revenue of £275.7 million ($356.9 million at the time the results were made public) itself followed on from (at the time) record revenues in the 2022-23 campaign.
In addition, it is understood that 2024-25 revenues across both merchandise and sponsorship are set to double, as Villa benefit from taking part in the Champions League this campaign.
Before arriving at Villa, he spent almost five years as president of the Philadelphia 76ers NBA basketball franchise, after four years as chief sales and marketing officer at that organization.
Prior to that, meanwhile, he was the president of business operations at the New York Red Bulls Major League Soccer team, which in turn followed a stint as senior vice president of marketing partnerships at the NBA.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalDataHeck has now said: "Aston Villa is one of the best clubs in the world, and I am grateful to have had an opportunity to contribute to their success over the past two years. From the beginning, we laid out a clear strategic road map, and I am so happy with the unrivaled progress we have made on that plan."
Nassef Sawaris, chair of the club, added: "Through strategic partnerships, sponsorships, refurbished hospitality spaces and much more, [Heck] has helped establish AVFC as a world-class operation and commercial success. We wish him all the best in all his future endeavors.”
Villa said in the statement announcing Heck's departure that a replacement is "expected ahead of the commencement of the 2025-26 season."
While Heck was undoubtedly heavily involved in helping raise Villa's revenues, he has also come under fire from fan groups, including for significantly hiking Champions League ticket prices, in some cases to £97.
He has also been accused of failing to engage in a proper consultation process around the issue of changing the club's crest.
A LIV Golf spokesperson had no comment to make when asked about the reports of Heck being set to join that organization , which has US offices in both New York and Palm Beach, Florida.
With its first event held in 2022, LIV Golf is financed by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund. The series, currently in its fourth season, has managed to attract some of the world's best golfers by offering them astronomical contracts.
Critics of the Saudi government regularly suggest that the golf series is being used to sportswash the country's reputation.
The LIV Golf chief executive, Scott O'Neill, formally joined in mid-January.
