Galway, Jay Williams, Launch Sports & Entertainment Brand

Financial services company Galway Holdings is launching a new brand Wednesday that will strictly focus on the sports and entertainment sectors.

A division of Galway Holdings, GalwayPlus will offer financial, insurance and consulting services that aim to fulfill the needs of athletes, entertainers, teams, leagues and organizations. The move comes as the parent company looks to create stronger connectivity across its portfolio of brands that touch sports and entertainment.  

“This is a way to link our businesses together in a coordinated way,” Will Wilson, Galway‘s chief corporate development officer of global sports and sustainability, said in an interview. “We’ll be able to do a lot more for our clients.”

This new brand will be led by Wilson, the former CEO of the United States Soccer Federation, and ESPN talent Jay Williams, a former NBA player who also serves as co-founder and chairman for Improbable Media. Williams, a partner at Galway Holdings, will play a pivotal role in the brand’s approach to sports and media industries. “He plays a critical role when you look at his network and perspective and the things he’s connected with as we look to bring these things to bear within our own ecosystem,” Wilson said of the former first-round draft pick.

GalwayPlus looks to leverage the resources within the Galway Holdings portfolio, which includes more than 20 businesses across retail brokerage, wholesale distribution and wealth management. It also will lean on about a dozen adjacent portfolio companies that include EPIC Entertainment and Sports, and MAI Sports and Entertainment.

“We saw an opportunity to connect them more efficiently on a platform that can solve new and existing clients’ complex challenges,” Wilson said in an interview. “We also wanted to strategically think about how we entered the market and these businesses through a rolled-up brand.”

Galway Plus, which will offer risk and wealth solutions through its advisors, is getting launched in a crowded sports and entertainment space. Wilson, who left USSF to join Galway in 2022, said the new division hopes to stand out from others with its breadth of expertise and financial service businesses under its portfolio.

“All the various organizations that are active around the industry [understand] the risk mitigation and wealth management side of the equation are really important,” Wilson said.

The first unveiling of the brand will happen at a charity golf tournament (Galway Live!) and at The ARENA, a Galway-sponsored business conference that starts next week.