JOHN KOSNER

John Kosner is an internet pioneer and four-decade veteran of sports media. Today, he is president of KOSNER MEDIA, a digital media and sports consultancy. In 2018, John and the late NBA Commissioner Emeritus David Stern created Micromanagement Ventures, a portfolio of sports technology start-ups focused on media, betting and player health. John continues to serve as an advisor to and an investor in the 15 current companies in Micromanagement Ventures which include WSC Sports, WHOOP, Overtime and Bit Fry Studios. In addition, John is a board member at 8th Wall; an advisor to the 890 5th Avenue Partners, Inc. SPAC, Sportradar, Molekule, the Big East Conference and the PRCA; he and his former NBA colleague Ed Desser negotiate sports media agreements for rightsholders and they write periodic columns for the Sports Business Journal and Sportico. John also does expert witness work, currently for Proskauer Rose LLP and Paul, Weiss LLP.

Previously, John led digital media at ESPN from 2003-2017, after stints at Sports Illustrated, the NBA, where he was in charge of U.S. broadcasting during the Dream Team era, CBS Sports and NBC Sports. In his 21 years at the company, Kosner built ESPN into the world’s leading digital sports destination – a powerhouse in short- and long-form editorial content, streaming, social media, podcasting, fantasy sports and direct-to-consumer – increasing traffic ten-fold and turning an unprofitable business into ESPN’s fastest growing one.

In Nov, 2016, ESPN reached a record 141mm global unique users, making it the #1 sports site both in the U.S. and, for the first time, outside the U.S. as well. That month, the ESPN App generated the most users in the world among sports apps and the ESPN Fantasy App, the most usage. And ESPN ranked as the #5 daily U.S. digital property for millennial males, 18-34 using their smartphones.

Kosner has hired and helped develop many of the top sportswriters of this generation including Wright Thompson, Bill Simmons, Zach Lowe, Ramona Shelburne, Bill Barnwell and Sambit Bal as well as specialists like Adrian Wojnarowski, Sambit Bal, Matthew Berry, Henry Abbott, Jacob Wolf and Darren Rovell.