Oliver Weingarten, the founder of UK esports organisation LDN UTD, has today launched a new agency known as Summit Sports.
It’s being presented as a ‘new 360 management service to help athletes achieve everything they need to reach the peak of their career’.
Summit Sports is focusing initially on boxing (and wider combat), motorsport and content creators. The agency said it will help clients ‘reach peak performance, peak exposure and peak earnings’ and support them with commercial and contractual management, brand building, PR, media training, mental health support, performance, and cross over into other verticals to help them broaden their audience and appeal.
The agency has been founded by a team that has collectively worked with the Premier League, Sky Sports, LDN UTD, F1, Boxxer, HyperX and Gleam in the past.
Summit Sports’ Co-Founder and CEO, Oliver Weingarten, previously founded UK esports organisation LDN UTD. He has also worked as General Counsel on Commercial and IP at the Premier League, before becoming Secretary General of the Formula One Teams’ Association, and has held other roles at Formula E, Virtually Live and Boxxer.
Then there’s Director of Boxing Talent, Adam Smith, formerly of Sky Sports, with 30 years of industry experience. Adam has helped the careers of Prince Naseem Hamed, Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe and Anthony Joshua, whilst mentoring other talent such as young tennis star Daniel Altmaier, two weight world champion Savannah Marshall and 100 metre sprinter Imani Lansiquot.
Co-Founder Duncan Ogilvie also brings with him experience working with athletes including world champion boxers, Premier League footballers, Olympians and the Great Britain Senior Basketball team, as well as management, mentoring, legal, commercial, gaming strategy and story telling services.
Co-Founder Ben Malka joins from Mode TwentyOne and will continue to work with a roster that includes Gee Nelly and Ellum who are both Samsung Ambassadors and members of Team Galaxy, Harrie Silver (works with Guild Esports) and Alyska, a PlayStation Ambassador, whilst Summit Sports will also work closely with broadcast presenter and gamer Sunpi.
Ben will also be supported by established YouTuber Oakley who joins Summit Sports as Partnerships Director. Oakley started a YouTube channel in 2010 and since then has been running his own gaming and sport channels for the past 12 years, working with fellow YouTubers including Wroetoshaw, Calfreezy, Callux, Theo Baker and others.
Co-founder and CEO, Oliver Weingarten said: “Throughout my career I have endeavoured to realise my passion and do things differently. Summit Sports is no different. Along with my fellow founders, wherever we can, we want to help our talent reach the peaks of their careers, in a way that they deserve.
“I’m excited to launch today with our three verticals and we’ve got even more news on the horizon. We always felt it was very important to transcend traditional boundaries in the world of sport with the continually thriving gaming and esports sectors, where we have a huge amount of experience, to provide our talent with additional opportunities. We are all very excited in relation to the cross-pollination potential.”
Adam Smith, Director of Boxing Talent, added: “I am so excited about joining Olly and the team at Summit Sports because we believe we can make a real difference. Sports women and sports men have always been at the epicentre of everything I have done in my career.
“30 years at Sky Sports working alongside some of the most amazing heroes of our time has made me want to give back, to guide, to partner, to mentor and to really help them maximise their potential. I will be personally steering our athletes on the front line, through all the ups and downs to reach their summit – not only in crucial sporting careers but in their full lives beyond.”
“We always felt it was very important to transcend traditional boundaries in the world of sport with the continually thriving gaming and esports sectors, where we have a huge amount of experience, to provide our talent with additional opportunities.”
Oliver Weingarten, Summit Sports
Co-founder, Ben Malka, Director of Talent, commented: “When Olly and I started talking about the vision of Summit Sports, and our ethos and values, and the way we morally approach talent, it was a natural occurrence to say, “let’s go and build something different”. I am grateful to my existing talent who have shared in the vision of Summit Sports and joined me on this journey where I’ll continue to help take them to the top.”
Co-Founder, Duncan Ogilvie, Head of Performance, saaid: “With Summit Sports, my true passion for helping athletes achieve peak performance in their respective field, is broadened with the comprehensive offering they can choose from to excel in their sport and beyond. Holding a British Boxing Board of Control Manager’s licence, I am excited at the prospect of working closely with Adam and Olly to guide fighters in a way that has not been done before.”
Oakley, Partnerships Director, stated: “As a content creator myself, I am in the fortunate position of seeing the industry from both sides. Being a part of the founding team here at Summit Sports allows me to act in the best interests of both the talent and clients we are working with.”
For more information about Summit Sports or to sign up to its newsletter, check out summitsports.co.uk
What happened to LDN UTD?
Since LDN UTD was acquired by Ludus Gaming back in November 2022, and Daniel Gee and James Sheehan joined as majority shareholders, the esports organisation has been quiet.
Oliver Weingarten resigned from the LDN UTD board last year, and on January 30th 2024, a notice for compulsory strike-off was made on the Ludus Gaming Companies House page, meaning Ludus Gaming will soon be struck off the register and dissolved. Esports News UK has reached out to Daniel Gee to ask what this means for LDN UTD and will provide an update if we hear back.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
