Executives

Photo Name
Executive Name
David Berson

President, CBS Sports

In September 2023, CBS Sports announced that David Berson will become President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Sports effective April 2024, making him the seventh person ever to lead the storied brand. He is succeeding CBS Sports Chairman, Sean McManus in leading the Division.

 

Berson was named President, CBS Sports, in June 2013, at the time becoming the youngest ever to hold that title.  He joined CBS Sports in January 2011 as Executive Vice President, CBS Sports, and President, CBS Sports Network, after 16 years at ESPN, where he started as an intern during college. 

 

Berson oversees all aspects of CBS Sports across broadcast, cable, digital and streaming.  He manages the relationships with CBS Sports’ partners, including the NFL, the Masters, PGA TOUR, PGA of America, NCAA, UEFA, Southeastern Conference and Big Ten Conference. Under Berson’s leadership, CBS Sports has more closely aligned and integrated all of its sports assets, including the CBS broadcast network, Paramount Global’s streaming service Paramount+, CBS Sports Network, CBSSports.com and all its digital sports properties. Sports continues to be a primary driver for Paramount Global’s linear and digital success.

 

During Berson’s tenure at CBS Sports, he has been integral in all the Network’s rights acquisition negotiations, with the division successfully signing rights agreements with many marquee partners. Berson has helped spearhead four rights agreements with the NFL, including two for the Sunday AFC package and two for Thursday Night Football. Most recently, in March 2021, Paramount Global reached an 11-year multi-platform rights agreement with the NFL, extending CBS’ longstanding relationship with the league through the 2033 season. The historic deal keeps CBS the home of the AFC, while securing expanded and flexible distribution rights for Paramount+, as well as a vast array of rights across Paramount Global networks, properties and platforms. Berson conceived the wildly successful and Emmy award-winning NFL Wild Card Game on Nickelodeon, produced by CBS Sports, which debuted in 2021. CBS Sports and Nickelodeon will team up again to present the first-ever alternate telecast of the Super Bowl for Super Bowl LVIII. The special slime-filled kids and family presentation, which will air alongside CBS Sports’ broadcast, is cultivating a new generation of fans and spurred the creation of NFL Slimetime, a weekly series on Nickelodeon.

 

Berson has been instrumental in numerous long-term golf deals for CBS, including two separate nine-year PGA TOUR rights agreements (2013-2021 and 2022-2030), continuing CBS Sports’ position as the leading broadcast partner of the PGA TOUR, plus an historic 11-year deal with the PGA of America for CBS's carriage of the PGA Championship through 2030.

 

Berson also leads CBS Sports’ streaming content on Paramount+, highlighted in 2020 by making CBS Sports the home of the UEFA Champions League, the most prestigious club soccer tournament in the world, a deal that was later extended through the 2029-30 season. In addition to UEFA, CBS Sports’ soccer portfolio boasts many of the sport’s top competitions, including Serie A, the NWSL and the Women’s Super League, and in 2023 the launch of the CBS Sports Golazo Network, a first-of-its-kind, 24/7 streaming network dedicated to soccer.

 

Berson helped secure the multimedia rights for the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship (March Madness) for CBS, in conjunction with Turner Broadcasting, through 2032. In 2022, Berson and CBS also negotiated a seven-year agreement with the Big Ten for football and basketball rights through 2029-30. Additionally, college sports rights extensions have been reached for the Army-Navy game through 2028, among many others. 

 

Berson has overseen numerous high-profile CBS Sports on-air talent acquisitions, including Tony Romo, JJ Watt, Nate Burleson, Jay Wright, Matt Ryan, Trevor Immelman, Thierry Henry, Kate Abdo, Charles Davis, Dottie Pepper, Amanda Renner and Colt Knost. In recent years, other on-air talent deals included extensions with longtime CBS Sports voices Jim Nantz, Ian Eagle, James Brown, Bill Cowher, Phil Simms, Bill Raftery, Tracy Wolfson and Gary Danielson.

 

Since Berson joined CBS Sports, CBS Sports Network has achieved record business results. Enhancements to the cable network during his tenure include a total rebrand of the service, numerous rights agreements to bring aboard more leagues/conferences and live events than ever before, plus original programming, including the critically acclaimed first-ever, nationally-televised, all-female primetime sports show, WE NEED TO TALK.

 

Prior to joining CBS Sports, Berson co-ran ESPN's programming department and was responsible for programming strategy, scheduling, development and driving audience consumption for all of ESPN's domestic television networks and digital video media platforms. Berson led the programming group through a dynamic period at ESPN and ABC, including the launch of numerous additional networks and multimedia products. Beginning in 2001, when he took over responsibility for programming scheduling and strategy, ESPN networks set record audience levels each year during his tenure and, in an era of rapid media industry change and proliferation of consumer entertainment options, ESPN ratings grew 34 percent over that time.

 

The Sports Business Journal annually includes Berson on its list of the Most Influential People in Sports Business. In January 2006, The Sporting News listed Berson, then 33, on its annual list of "Young & Powerful."  In 2007, 2008 and 2009, he was selected as a Sports Business Journal "Forty Under 40" recipient and named as a "Forty Under 40 Hall of Famer."  In 2007 and 2008, he was listed on BusinessWeek's "The Power 100" ranking of the 100 most powerful people in sports. In 2019, for his philanthropic and professional work, Berson was honored by the UJA-Federation of New York at its Sports for Youth Luncheon. He is a 10-time Emmy Award-winner.

 

Berson is a graduate of the University of Michigan and serves on the University’s Sports Management Advisory Board.