Live to Play Sports Appoints Sean Sullivan as CEO

Nov 21, 2022 at 11:07
by Norco Bicycles  
Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn

PRESS RELEASE: Norco Bicycles

Live to Play Sports, parent company of Norco Bicycles, has appointed industry veteran Sean Sullivan as CEO. Sullivan has served on the Live to Play (LTP) Advisory Board for five years before taking on the leadership role. His strategic outlook and experience will support the organization’s global expansion and its history of innovation and growth while continuing to connect with riders and dealers.

“In my five years of service on the board, I have become a big fan of this company and the Norco brand. And, after 15-plus years in the bike industry, it’s a genuine pleasure to feel the infectious passion that’s at the heart of what they do.” Since stepping up their commitment to rider-focused technical innovation, resulting in two Bike of the Year awards from Pinkbike in three years, Norco has continued to grow its reputation in Canada and around the world.

LTP’s in-house and distributed brand business has also continued to expand to meet the needs of Canadian dealers. While aiming to continue the company’s upwards trajectory through post-Covid market challenges, Sullivan is committed to staying true to what makes LTP’s company culture unique.

“LTP and Norco were built on an ethic of being fair and honest – with our staff, our dealers, our suppliers, and consumers – and that reputation has played a crucial role in our success,” he said. “As decisions are made to continue growing the business, that commitment will remain intact.”




Must Read This Week
Video: Grim Donut Part 3 - We Made It Less Terrible
68943 views
Interview: Rocksled Suspension's Wild New Linkage Fork
66884 views
Bike Check: Comparing Jack Moir, Kasper Woolley & Christian Textor's New YT Capra Race Bikes
52677 views
Review: 2023 Ibis Oso
52613 views
The UCI Releases the 2023 Team List
46599 views
Ministry Cycles is Taking Pre-Orders for their Glued-Together Psalm 150
37030 views
Throwback Thursday: 4 Bikes Turning 30 in 2023
33439 views
10 2023 Team Changes That Flew Under the Radar
32545 views

67 Comments

  • 75 5
 "Strategic outlook?" "Post-Covid market challenges?" And the menacingly passive, "As decisions are made to continue growing the business..."

Is it just me, or are a bunch of people about to lose their jobs?
  • 60 3
 A bunch of people are about to lose their jobs.
  • 21 1
 Its not just you…loads of people will be losing their jobs and if you talk to anyone in the bike industry right now, its crashing HARD.
  • 61 0
 @neroleeloo: The pricing got way too high. People don't have unlimited cash.
  • 2 0
 Certainly sounds like it. Bad times
  • 8 0
 @HB208: theh should provide a leveraged buy outs option for bike sales. The bike takes the debt and you take possession. Win win!
  • 7 4
 @spinzillathespacelizard: Just finance a bike over 60 months.
  • 4 9
flag cykelmastaren (Nov 21, 2022 at 13:35) (Below Threshold)
 "Continue growing" would probably mean the complete opposite of downsizing don't you think?
  • 17 1
 @cykelmastaren: continue growing the stack of cash in the CEO's pocket.
  • 1 2
 @HB208: True, most people do not. Not in 2022. I usually have a loose quid or two max. Personally I use my debit card, sometimes credit, but prefer debit.
  • 43 0
 They must doing alright, one of their press releases not long ago stated that they were not going downhill.
  • 7 4
 Everything is crashing hard except for the price of your essentials (food and energy). In the US, the central bank massively increased the money supply by something like 35% while our government shut small businesses down. Now the Fed is reducing the money supply and many remaining small businesses (aka little people... aka "useless eaters") are not going to survive the purge. The big well connected corporations and most government employees will survive just fine though.
  • 15 0
 Good thing my wages haven’t changed in years. It’s nice to have some consistency in life! @westeast:
  • 2 0
 @HB208: the pricing got too high on everything.
  • 3 11
flag cbourdrez (Nov 21, 2022 at 23:09) (Below Threshold)
 Nope, jobs will stay. It's extremely difficult to grow a business by firing people.
  • 5 0
 @pistol2ne: Yes, but you need food and energy. 10k MTB? Not so much.
  • 2 0
 I think you will see a lot of people lose their jobs in all sorts of industries in the new year as the economies take a dive.
  • 3 0
 @h82crash: I saw what you did there
  • 2 0
 Shimano's about to be sitting pretty while everyone else drowns in excess inventory. The bicycle buyers market is finally returning
  • 2 0
 @HB208: but this way I get to make the bike pay for it? What if I repackage my broken wheels as a derivative?
  • 1 2
 @HB208: When raw materials, shipping, and transport costs increase, prices increase. That's supply & demand.
  • 1 1
 @CaptainSnappy: Not necessarily. For a consumer good, supply and demand is set on the end product, not input costs.

Anyways, shipping costs are now to prepandemic levels.
  • 2 0
 @gooral: I use my credit card because I get rewards on my credit card. It gets paid off every month though.
  • 1 1
 The other big Canadian distributor also just sold and has had some pretty big disruptions/changes happening in parallel. Nobody wants to say anything but big companies like SRAM and Lezyne are undergoing major restructuring at the same time. Big 6-12 months ahead for the industry. Expect continued corporate greed and yes, layoffs.
  • 1 0
 @HB208: definitely
  • 21 0
 I dont remember seeing Norco CEO on the monthly PB job roundup..... I would have applied. Hmmm
  • 17 2
 Dripping with quintessential press release verbiage.

"LTP and Norco were built on an ethic of being fair and honest – with our staff, our dealers, our suppliers, and consumers – and that reputation has played a crucial role in our success"

Unsure why the above is mentioned, as we expect that as a baseline. I own a Norco and would buy another, but not at their inflated prices.
  • 35 1
 Norco has fairer prices than a lot of other brands to be fair. They also make solid products.
  • 27 0
 @HB208: The new Fluid FS line is better priced than almost anything else out there. Kinda heavy, but heavy is good, heavy is reliable. If it doesn't work, you can always hit them with it
  • 3 0
 @DizzyNinja: I steered a family member to a 2020 Fluid FS1 - they are heavy, esp for what I think would be more of an entry-level bike. I like the looks of the 2023 Fluids.
  • 2 2
 @HB208: I'm talking absolute pricing, not relative.
  • 2 2
 @njcbps: You're not wrong.
  • 2 1
 @HB208: Norco Range might be solid judging by its weight, but I think you are wrong, rest of their bikes are made of tubes, like most of bikes.
  • 5 0
 @njcbps Right? It is like saying: "I am not beating the shit of my wife and kids" Well, well done you, you're not bloody supposed to!
  • 8 0
 @HB208: Totally agree. My Optic C1 for $6500 came with full XTR, carbon E13 cranks, OneUp carbon bar, XTR 4 pot brakes, Fox Performance Elite. Comparable other boutique brands are easily $2000 more with less.
  • 2 0
 @Simann: I had a look at the pics - it's a beauty.
  • 2 0
 @njcbps: Take another look, added some fiddly bits :?
  • 1 0
 @Simann: Coil shock too - how's the performance? I haven't seen on an Optic.
  • 2 0
 @njcbps: Man its fantastic. Cane Creek just released the progressive short stroke spring a month ago. Not as poppy as an air spring, but it sure does soak up chatter well. Love the feel of it.
  • 3 0
 "Live to Play Sports Appoints Sean Sullivan as CEO" -> What? Something with a Live Play of some Sports Appointment and Sean is there, too?

"Norco's parent company has a new CEO." -> Ahhhh, got it!

I think the headline and sub-headline should be swapped.
  • 8 4
 Sean is an industry legend and has brought some super rad products to market in the past, stoked to see what Norco's going to be dropping with him at the reigns!
  • 33 0
 maybe a DH or XC factory team?
  • 1 3
 @DizzyNinja: rumblings that Norco will not be sponsoring an XC team next year
  • 1 1
 @DizzyNinja: apparently it’s coming back. Gotta think Gracey is on and Blenki is not but we’ll see.
  • 3 1
 Nothing more exciting that an article about a suit replacing a suit (or multiple suits) with full tilt Corp-O-Quotes as he walks up the gallows and is about to roll a bunch of heads. Well done PB, well done. Being facetious but point being...is this really news or just a way to be sure us Cretans are in the know when the blood spills? Asking for a friend...
  • 4 1
 "stepping up their commitment to rider-focused technical innovation" while stepping down their commitment to rider focused teams (which actually breed Technical innovation)
  • 2 1
 Boy I sure would love if they would stop charging European customers such a huge premium over North American prices. EG: New Fluid FS A4 costs $1999 in the US, but 2899€ in Germany.
  • 1 0
 Is the US price without tax and the German price with tax?
  • 1 0
 Thank the VAT! Here in the Mericas prices are before taxes.
  • 4 0
 Norco is awesome
  • 3 1
 Breaking news! Norco hired someone. Honestly I didn't see this coming.
  • 2 0
 They didn’t even hire anybody. The gave the CEO job to someone who was already on their board.
  • 1 0
 “Live to Play” is a great name for an online sports gambling empire. @robinnotrealblahblah
  • 1 0
 We are gonna see a big shift in Norco's offering of bikes in the near future.
  • 5 3
 the OG's of freeride.
  • 2 1
 that frame is gorgous omg
  • 7 0
 Painted by Velocolour in Toronto: www.velocolour.com
  • 1 0
 How'd they do that cool thing with the leafs and the paint though
  • 1 0
 m.pinkbike.com/news/round-up-15-olympic-edition-bikes.html
  • 2 5
 Live to Play sports who distribute many brands have been the most infuriating company to deal with. I cant speak for Norco, but if you have a warranty through LTP for any other product... you basically do not have a warranty.
  • 1 0
 Can I get a pot leaf frame??? I can provide the leafs Wink
  • 1 0
 Where was Sean Sullivan employed previously?
  • 1 0
 The leaves on the frame are real MTB Art!
Below threshold threads are hidden





You must login to Pinkbike.
Don't have an account? Sign up

Join Pinkbike  Login
Copyright © 2000 - 2023. Pinkbike.com. All rights reserved.
dv56 0.028072
Mobile Version of Website