Internet Pioneer.
Award Winning Leader.
Five Decades of Excellence in Sports Media & Technology.
Experience
John Kosner is an internet pioneer and five-decade veteran of sports media. Today, he is president of Kosner Media, a digital media and sports consultancy and is an investor and advisor in sports tech startups, consultant, expert witness and writer on sports media topics. John has served as an advisor to Apple, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee and LA28, HBS, MLS, the PRCA, Sporting Crypto, WHOOP and WSC Sports among others. He sits on the board of Fastbreak.AI and Underdog Venture Team. He was a board member at 8th Wall which was acquired by Niantic in 2022. John and his former NBA colleague Ed Desser devise sports media strategies, perform valuations and negotiate media agreements for rightsholders and they publish frequent columns for the Sports Business Journal. In 2021, they co-wrote the media analysis contained in the NCAA External Gender Equity Review which resulted from the disparate treatment of the Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships. John also does expert witness work, currently for Latham & Watkins LLP and previously for Proskauer Rose LLP and Kaplan Hecker & Fink LLP.
In 2018, John and the late NBA Commissioner Emeritus David Stern created Micromanagement Ventures, a portfolio of sports technology start-ups focused on media, betting and player health. John continues to serve as an advisor to and an investor in eight of the original Micromanagement Ventures portfolio companies which include WHOOP, WSC Sports and Overtime. Four of the original portfolio companies have been acquired: RotoQL (by Entercom in 2020); RecoverX (by Hyperice in 2021); Jackpocket (by DraftKings in 2024) and Sparta Science (by Oura in 2024).
Previously, John led digital media at ESPN from 2003-2017. In his 21 years at the company, Kosner built ESPN into the world’s leading digital sports destination – a powerhouse in short- and long-form editorial content, streaming, social media, podcasting, fantasy sports and direct-to-consumer – increasing traffic ten-fold and turning an unprofitable business into ESPN’s fastest growing. In Nov, 2016, ESPN reached a then-record 141mm global unique users, making it #1 in the sports category for the first time worldwide. That month in the sports category globally, the ESPN App generated the most users in the world and the ESPN Fantasy App, the most usage. And ESPN ranked as the #5 daily of all U.S. digital properties for millennial males, 18-34 using their smartphones.
At ESPN, John was part of a small, senior group that managed the program acquisition, scheduling and linear and digital distribution of all ESPN collegiate and professional sports properties. He also struck ESPN’s original streaming deal with BamTech which led to Disney’s acquisition of Major League Baseball’s technology firm in 2016.
Awards
During Kosner’s tenure at ESPN, SportsBusiness Journal awarded ESPN its annual award for Best in Digital Sports Media five times in 10 years and named Kosner the “Most Influential” in Online Media in 2008. In addition, ESPN.com also won eight Sports Emmy's and two Online Journalism Awards, including the pestigious Award for General Excellence and ESPN The Magazine was awarded the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2017. John has also appeared on lists of powerful and influential figures in sports media in BusinessWeek, Daily Variety, among others.
Prior to ESPN, John worked at Sports Illustrated and spent eight years at the NBA, where he was in charge of U.S. broadcasting during the Dream Team era. He started his career at CBS Sports and NBC Sports.
Personal
Kosner is the Chairman of the Alumni Association and former Trustee of his alma mater, the Collegiate School in New York City. He was graduated with distinction from Stanford University in 1982 with a bachelor of arts degree in American History. A native of New York City, Kosner lives in Manhattan with his wife, Diane Burstein, and their son, Luke. He has two older children, Walter, a musician with The Walters, and Grace, a design and UX specialist for Disney.