Job Title
President
Full Name
Ed Desser
Company
Desser Sports Media
Bio
Ed Desser is the Founder and President of Desser Sports Media, Inc. (DSM) and Desser Media, Inc. (DMI), serving the strategic needs of the sports and media industries. He has more than 40 years of experience in sports media, performing valuations, determining strategy, and negotiating major media deals in the local, national and international TV marketplaces, and serving as an expert witness. Desser serves a diverse group of sports, technology, and media clients. He earned a BA in Economics at UCLA, and an MBA in Marketing from USC. More details are available at www.desser.tv.

For 23 years, he served as the senior media executive in the Commissioner’s Office of the National Basketball Association, ultimately as President of NBA Television and New Media Ventures, and Executive Vice President, Strategic Planning and Business Development. He was the chief negotiator for all NBA and WNBA national media agreements, and served on the NBA Board of Governors Planning Committee.

Desser also invented and spearheaded the launch of NBA TV, the first league-owned national cable sports network; nba.com the first league website; created the NBA League Pass outer-market games subscription package, negotiated all related carriage agreements with MVPDs; established the league’s broadcast regulatory framework; and as VP/General Manager of NBA Entertainment, Inc. and VP/International Television, developed the league’s TV production and distribution business, expanding the range of productions and growing the NBA’s media footprint to over 200 countries.

In 2005, he founded DSM, and later DMI, which collectively specialize in (i) strategic sports media planning, (ii) performing rights valuations, (iii) creating business plans for networks and new media platforms, (iv) conducting regional, national and international media rights negotiations, mergers & acquisitions support, and (v) providing litigation/ expert witness services to professional sports teams, leagues/ conferences, maximizing the value of their media rights, and serving programmers, distributors and tech companies in
strategic planning and business development, and serving entertainment companies, distributors, and technology firms. Desser has advised on over $30 billion in sports and media transactions.

The firms have negotiated more than 75 sports media rights deals, advised over 35 professional sports teams and worked on behalf of national bodies including the NFL, MLB, NBA, MLS, PGA Tour, Big 12 Conference, CFL, PRCA, PBA, UFC and NHRA, where Desser is a member of the Board of Directors. DSM has provided services to media companies including Tribune Company, DIRECTV, Fox, Time Warner Cable, Rogers Communications, TELUS, and Videotron. Other examples include expert and fact witness services in arbitrations, litigations, and mediations including in O’Bannon et. al. vs. NCAA, NBC Universal vs. major MVPD, and WWE. DSM has also negotiated on behalf of or performed analysis for Staples Center/team owner and developer Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), Kilmer Van Nostrand, Co., Ltd., McKinsey & Co., Google/YouTube, Qualcomm, Goldman Sachs, and Maple Leaf Sports + Entertainment.

Desser led the LA Lakers in connection with the largest regional sports media deal in history and the most significant transaction in a decade. He was an expert witness for Major League Baseball v. LA Dodgers, later for Fox Sports, then represented Joe Torre and Rick Caruso in connection with a team bid. Desser valued the Dodgers rights result very close to the amount ultimately obtained for the Hollywood Reporter, and represented Time Warner Cable in its record-breaking Dodgers rights acquisition.
Ed Desser