Altius Sports Partners reshuffling front office

Casey Schwab, the founder and CEO of Altius Sports Partners (ASP), is moving into a senior advisor role the firm announced Friday afternoon.

Working with more than 40 universities to educate athletes and athletic departments on NIL issues, Altius has also started to advise clients on the House v. NCAA settlement and revenue sharing. The firm was acquired by the marketing agency Underdog & Co. last November.

With Schwab’s new role, Tommy Gray, who has served as COO since January 2023, is being promoted to CEO. Andrew Donovan and Kim DeCarolis will continue as president and vice president of Altius, respectively.

“This transition marks a new chapter for ASP, reinforcing our commitment to helping institutions and brands navigate industry change and optimize existing and untapped economic opportunities,” Altius said in a released statement.

Altius’ clients include Texas, Notre Dame, Georgia and LSU and brands like Powerade, Shake Shack and NBC Sports Group. Almost half of the 40 university partners have an Altius employee embedded on campus. All 14 of their university partners that were up for renewal in 2023 renewed, nearly all for multiple years.

When Underdog acquired Altius, the release stated Schwab would stay on as CEO through at least 2027. The hope was the two brands would “enable even more brands to execute impactful national marketing campaigns in partnership with college athletes.”

The firm’s relationships with schools have been invaluable, establishing a general manager program a year into NIL after realizing a need for more on-campus assistance. Roughly $10,000 per month is the going rate for Altius’ full package to institutions, including ASP Academy and the GM program.

Oklahoma launched an athlete services division through its partnership with Altius in August 2023. NFL Players Association executive Terése Whitehead was also recently named Michigan’s first in-house NIL executive GM with Altius Sports Partners.

OneTeam Partners and Altius announced a multi-year partnership this spring, with ASP educating school partners and athletes on group licensing opportunities available through OneTeam.