Genius Sports appoints Steve Bornstein as President, North America

Data, technology and commercial partner, Genius Sports announced Wednesday that Steve Bornstein will join the company in a newly created executive role of President, North America. The appointment of Bornstein was of immediate effect, and he is now in charge of Genius’ US and Canadian activities.

As the head of the North American operations, Bornstein will optimize Genius Sports’ regional business infrastructure, aiming for the acceleration of growth in existing and new areas. This includes the sourcing and unlocking of value with new and existing sports partners including the NFL, NCAA, NASCAR, NBA and MLB. 

Bornstein will work closely with the executive team to identify innovative and revenue accretive acquisition targets. He will also support the integration of recently acquired businesses, including Second Spectrum, which is the official data tracking and analytics provider of EPL, NBA and MLS. 

Before becoming President, North America for Genius Sports, Bornstein held a range of positions across the sports, media and advisory sectors. He has extensive broadcast experience as, in 1990, he became ESPN’s youngest president and CEO at age 38. He oversaw the launch of ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPN Radio, ESPN Classic, ESPN International, ESPN The Magazine, the ESPYs and the X-Games. 

He is also well-known for his time as President, CEO and Founder of the NFL Network and Executive Vice President of Media, where he oversaw the league’s media division and led negotiations on TV deals and sponsorships. 

He is former Chairman of Activision Blizzard’s eSports division, where he created professional leagues and fan experiences across games, platforms and geographies. He continues to act as senior adviser to the Raine Group, a merchant bank advising and investing in technology, media and telecommunications.

Earlier in his career, Steve Bornstein also served as Corporate Vice President of Capital Cities/ABC Inc. (1993), President of ABC Sports (1996), Chairman & CEO of ESPN (1998) and President of ABC, Inc (1999), where he was responsible for all media assets of ABC/Disney. 

In an official press release, Genius Sports’ CEO Mark Locke spoke about the appointment of the new President, North America and said: “Steve is an accomplished, forward-thinking executive who brings more than 30 years of sports media experience. As we continue to execute on our growth strategy North America, we look forward to benefiting from a visionary like Steve who played a major role in shaping the growth and success of iconic brands like ESPN and the NFL. As a leader, he exemplifies the values set out at Genius and will help us progress our culture of collaboration and innovation". 

Bornstein added: “I am excited to join Genius Sports at this time in the company’s growth. And I’m delighted to partner with Mark and his outstanding team as Genius demonstrates and deepens its commitment to drive real value for its partners in the U.S. and Canada. I can’t wait to get started", he concluded.