David Solomon
New York City,NY
Summary
Sports media executive with proven success in driving $110M+ in revenue and leading strategic partnerships. Expertise in sports media sales, streaming innovation, and high-value deal negotiations. Frequent contributor to Forbes, Digiday, and Adweek.
Overview
8
8
years of professional experience
Work History
Head of Sports Partnerships
Ampersand
11.2022 - Current
- Oversee $110M+ in sports media sales across 16 offices, driving marketplace efficiency and maximizing ROI for local and national TV campaigns.
- Led a 30% increase in live sports event revenue in 2024 by spearheading strategic partnerships and optimizing vendor collaboration.
- Drive the development and execution of an aggregated streaming sports portfolio, seamlessly integrating new supply partners into the company’s offerings.
- Champion marketplace innovation, pioneering local-market, live in-game streaming solutions to expand reach
- Secure high-value upfront commitments from top holding companies through expert negotiation and relationship management.
- Cultivate and maintain executive-level relationships with agencies, brands, and internal stakeholders to drive specialized sports media strategies.
- Lead cross-functional collaboration to shape go-to-market sales strategy, optimize budgeting, and expand supply partnerships.
- Define and execute short- and long-term sports media strategy, leveraging deep industry insights to drive innovation and growth.
- Recognized thought leader in sports media, contributing to major trade publications including Forbes, Digiday, and Adweek.
Director, Strategic Planning
Ampersand
12.2019 - 10.2022
- Built and managed a new strategic planning team
- Collaborated with C-level agency, MVPD, and research leads to gain buy-in of Ampersand initiatives
- Project managed the development of a complex TV audience estimation model, collaborating with advanced data scientists and serving as the key liaison between data science, product, and sales teams to ensure alignment and successful implementation
- Solved inefficiencies by working cross-functionally to streamline local, national, and digital sales needs
- Interpreted and analyzed large data sets to develop compelling insights to drive revenue
Manager, Sports Partnerships
NCC Media
01.2017 - 12.2019
- Developed one of the first market aggregated, in-game, sports digital products for the local TV marketplace in collaboration with the digital supply team
- Increased revenue by spearheading initiative to "data mine" sports impressions in historically untapped markets
- Built sports inventory packaging across MVPD footprints
- Embedded in the agency partnership team to highlight the power of sports inventory internally and at major holding companies
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Political Science And Environmental Science
Miami University
Oxford, OH12.2011
Skills
- Strategic partnerships
- Revenue growth
- Sports media innovation
- Cross functional leadership
- Data-Driven Decision Making
- Risk taker
- Negotiation
- Thought leadership
Timeline
Head of Sports Partnerships
Ampersand
11.2022 - Current
Director, Strategic Planning
Ampersand
12.2019 - 10.2022
Manager, Sports Partnerships
NCC Media
01.2017 - 12.2019
Bachelor of Arts - Political Science And Environmental Science
Miami University
Similar Profiles
Kevin RayburnKevin Rayburn
Director of Sales at AmpersandDirector of Sales at Ampersand
Jeremy PellegriniJeremy Pellegrini
VP of Political Sales at AmpersandVP of Political Sales at Ampersand
Kurt FogelKurt Fogel
Director of Sales at AmpersandDirector of Sales at Ampersand