2025 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: David Levy, Turner Titan and Master of All Sports-Media TradesBy Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. Thursday, December 11, 2025 - 12:45 pm
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Over a career spanning more than three decades, David Levy has cemented himself as one of sports media's genuine jack-of-all-trades. During 33 years at Turner and throughout his travels since, he has earned a reputation not only as one of the top dealmakers in the business but also as a gifted leader in ad sales, programming, production, and marketing and in finding and cultivating elite on-air talent.
Few people can excel in our industry and be a tough but fair dealmaker, a creative programmer, an accomplished salesman; possess a keen eye for production; and be a groomer of talent and a showman, says Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer and former CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus. But David has been all of that and more.
As president of Turner Broadcasting Inc., Levy oversaw the company's wide portfolio of properties and operations, but sports has always been his true passion. After working his way up the ranks and taking over Turner Sports in 2003, he was instrumental in deepening and expanding the company's media rights by negotiating a variety of groundbreaking multiplatform deals with the NBA, MLB, NCAA, PGA TOUR, and countless others.
He co-founded and serves as co-CEO of Horizon Sports & Experiences (HS&E), which focuses on IP creation and monetization, strategic advisory and consulting on media rights, sponsorships, sales, and experiential.
David is a visionary media executive, says NBA Commissioner Adam Silver. He helped build Turner Sports into an industry powerhouse, and I can't think of many people over the past 30 years who have done more to elevate the sports-media business than David.
The Early Years: Learning the Biz and Making a Name for HimselfGrowing up in White Plains, NY, Levy developed a love of sports at a young age and played varsity soccer and ice hockey for four years at White Plains High School. His father, Rick Levy, was in the syndication business, working at Al Masini's Operation Prime Time selling shows like Solid Gold and Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous before moving to Camelot Entertainment Sales, where he sold Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, and The Oprah Winfrey Show.
David Levy: I knew the television business through my dad and got excited about it early on,
I knew the television business through my dad and got excited about it early on, he recounts. I didn't know where I was going to end up in the television business, but I remember going to conferences with him and thinking, I want to do this someday.'
He attended Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, where he played club hockey all four years, and landed a job at Oakmont Advertising coming out of college before joining SSC&B as an assistant network buyer in 1984.
Back then, Levy notes, cable was just starting out, and there were only a few networks, so [SSC&B assigned] the new kid - me - to take the meetings. We were spending billions in [broadcast] network television and only a few million in cable money. So, while I was a young guy, I was a big fish in a small pond. Then cable started to really grow, and I was at the right place at the right time.
Despite having no sales experience, Levy was able to persuade industry pioneer John Kramer to hire him at Cable Networks Inc. as an account executive. He began making a name for himself, and then-Turner President, Sales, Farrell Reynolds took notice of the up-and-coming Levy and hired him as an account executive in the entertainment division. He would work for no other company for 33 years.
A Real Page Turner: Levy Works His Way Up the LadderBy the end of the decade, much of Levy's effort was focused on ad sales for Turner's growing array of sports properties, including the NBA, NASCAR, Atlanta Braves baseball, SEC football, and the Goodwill Games. That's when the company's legendary founder, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Ted Turner, decided he wanted the NFL.
Levy said this of fellow Hall of Famer Ted Turner: I think I'm largely the executive I am today because I got to work under Ted. Ted is a true visionary. That word gets thrown around a lot, but I saw it firsthand.
When Ted put his mind to something, says Levy, he was going to get it. He went after the NFL and got the first half of the Sunday-night NFL package, which was split with ESPN. It's hard to express just how big a deal that was at the time.
With the NFL on TNT kicking off in 1990, Turner Sports was entering a new level, and Levy believed it needed its own ad-sales division to compete with other broadcasters' sports offerings.
I presented the idea of creating a sports-specific sales division for Turner, which had not existed before that, he says. ABC, CBS, and NBC all had sports sales departments, and we needed the same if we were going to compete. Not only did [management] agree to it, but they asked me to run it even though I was just a young executive at that point.
As VP and head of sports sales from 1990 to '94, Levy built the division from scratch and transformed Turner Sports into a legitimate sports-media player competing with the broadcast networks and ESPN.
David is the perfect blend of entrepreneur and company man, former Turner Broadcasting Systems CEO Phil Kent said in 2011. He's probably got the most significant piece of the Ted Turner DNA in him. He says, We've got to go after this, I want us to have this,' and he will not rest until he figures out a way to make it happen.
In 1994, Levy's career took a dramatic left turn when newly installed Turner Broadcasting President, Sales, Steve Heyer tapped him to run a
