Accomplished television executive David Preschlack has been named to the SportsBusiness Journal “Forty Under 40” list on multiple occasions and was recently included in the Cablefax 100. Following a successful career as an executive vice president for ESPN, where he met his wife, David Preschlack joined NBC Sports Regional Networks as the president of platform and content strategy. In spare time, he enjoys reading nonfiction historical books.
In 2018, historian Peter Frankopan, a Royal Historical Society fellow and global history professor at Oxford, released The New Silk Road, a follow-up to his 2015 bestseller, The Silk Roads: A New History of the World.
In the new book, Frankopan describes the political and economic changes that are poised to return economic dominance to the East, especially China. Many of the chapters center on Beijing’s massive multi-trillion-dollar undertaking, the Belt and Road Initiative, which comprises transport and infrastructure projects occurring in more than 60 countries along important land and marine trade routes.
Throughout the book, Frankopan compares this ambitious project to the ancient silk road started by the Chinese thousands of years ago. He also cites significant external factors, including America’s waning influence and political and economic changes in Iran, Russia, and India.
David Preschlack is the president of regional sports networks and platform and content strategy at NBC Sports Group in Stamford, Connecticut. During his time at Disney and ESPN Network Groups where he served as executive vice president of affiliate sales and marketing, David Preschlack met his wife, Alex. He, along with his wife, enjoy working with animals and has spent time on the board of the National Wildlife Refuge Association.
The National Wildlife Refuge Association has released its 2018 annual report. The report highlighted a depth of advocacy work the organization supported at the national level, highlighted by the passing of the Keep America’s Refuges Operational Act (KARO). Passed in April, KARO supports continued public access to recreational and volunteer opportunities at wildlife refuges through the reauthorization of the Volunteer and Community Partnership Act. KARO will be active through 2022.
Additional advocacy efforts in 2018 included raising hundreds of millions of dollars for Refuge System repairs following Hurricanes Maria, Harvey, and Irma, and passing a number of bills in Alaska. To read the report in its entirety, please visit the National Wildlife Refuge Association online at www.refugeassociation.org.
With a career spanning 20 years in the sports and entertainment industry, David Preschlack serves as the president of NBC Sports Regional Networks and NBC Sports Group Platform and Content Strategy. Outside of his work, David Preschlack enjoys traveling with his wife Alexandra and their children to other countries, including Australia.
Australia is home to some of the most iconic natural landmarks in the world, such as the incredible limestone stacks known as the Twelve Apostles. The country is also where the Great Barrier Reef can be found.
According to National Geographic, even a lifetime of exploration is not enough time to see all of what the Great Barrier Reef has to offer. However, there are still a handful of things that any traveler can do to get the most out of the experience. Michaelmas Cay, Agincourt Reef, Whitsunday Islands, and Daydream Island are popular cruise stops to see diverse marine life, including colorful fish, turtles, dolphins, whales, stingrays, and the world's largest coral reef system.
After a full day of snorkeling and diving, visitors can head to Airlie Beach, a coastal village with calm seas and long stretches of sand and an ideal place to relax. For a change of pace and environment, a trek on the Thorsborne Trail reveals an exotic jungle-like rainforest and waterfalls where visitors are allowed to camp for a few nights.
Based in Connecticut, where he lives with his wife and children, David Preschlack is president of NBC Sports Regional Networks, where he oversees the performance of nine NBC Sports Regional Networks nationwide. Apart from his work life, David Preschlack is a longtime supporter of the United Way and serves as a member of the organization’s worldwide board of trustees.
A report earlier this year stated the United Way has impacted the lives of some 400,000 students in the past year, helping them achieve success in the classroom and beyond. More than three-quarters of students the organization served have advanced in their classroom development metrics, with nearly 70 percent of kindergarten students rated “proficient” in reading tests. Over the next decade, the United Way's goal is to make sure at least 95 percent of high school graduates are equipped with the tools they need to either enter college or embark on a career path.
The United Way provides support to children from the beginning of their lives with the Babies Born Healthy program, which helps new parents learn needed skills. Support for children continues leading up to the school years with Born Learning Academy, which helps parents turn everyday moments into learning moments for their children.
Additionally, the United Way’s public policy initiatives support efforts to help families with low incomes receive the assistance they need to ensure the healthy development of children.
David Preschlack serves as president of NBC Sports Regional Networks and platform and content strategy at the NBC Sports Group. In this role, David Preschlack manages relationships with team partners from the NBA, MLB, and NHL.
This past summer, the National Basketball Association (NBA) enjoyed an average of just over 9 million viewers for Conference Finals meetings between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics in the east and the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets in the west. Both series went seven games, attracting the league’s largest Conference Finals audiences in six years, not to mention a 40 percent increase over the same period in 2017. Game 7 between the Warriors and Rockets drew nearly 15 million viewers, the second-largest audience for an NBA cable television broadcast.
Major League Baseball (MLB) enjoyed similar success during last season’s League Championship Series. The American League Championship Series between the Houston Astros and New York Yankees was watched by 6.5 million people, nearly double the viewership of the previous year’s series. The National League Championship Series brought in 6.2 million, up 88 percent from 2016.
The National Hockey League (NHL) continues to trail other major sports leagues in viewership, though the 2017 Conference Finals, which netted more than 2 million viewers on average, indicated continued viewership growth for the sport.
Living in Southport, Connecticut, with his wife and children, David Preschlack is the president of NBC Sports Regional Networks. Accomplished in the world of sports, David Preschlack has been named in SportsBusiness Journal’s Forty Under 40 three times.
SportsBusiness Journal’s Forty Under 40 was established to celebrate young achievers in the business of sports. Honoring young talent annually from every area of the sector, the award’s honorees include agents, marketers, team owners, entrepreneurs, lawyers, and athletic directors.
To be eligible for the award, a person must first be nominated by someone in the sports business. Only people who are under 40 years of age and are not already in the award’s Hall of Fame can be nominated. Nominees are not informed of their nomination.
Every year, SportBusiness Journal receives hundreds of nominations. It follows strict criteria in the selection of the final award recipients. For example, recipients must be leaders in their industry segments carrying significant responsibilities, have verifiable career successes in the past 24 months, have a track record of creativity and innovation, and their work must have resulted in measurable business success such as sales growth. Only those selected as winners are contacted.
Television executive David Preschlack joined NBC Sports Regional Networks as the division president in 2016 after a long career with Disney and ESPN. Before joining the NBC, David Preschlack, his wife Alexandra, and their children embarked on a three-month tour of Southeast Asia, Australia, and French Polynesia.
Traveling provides children with endless learning opportunities, particularly in social skills. Parents can help their children get the most out of their travel experiences by following some of these recommendations:
- Planning. Children can become involved in planning the itinerary in age-appropriate ways. For example, young children can look at travel books to help decide on landmarks they would like to visit. Older children can read books about travel destinations to learn more about the cultures before the visit.
- Documenting. Parents can teach their children to use simple cameras and recording devices to document the trip. After the trip, older children can put together digital or physical scrapbooks of photos and information about their experiences on the trip.
- Budgeting. For teenagers, a family trip can be a great incentive for earning money. Parents can help their teens set financial goals, start a small business, or find a job to make money for the trip. This is also a great opportunity for older children to learn about currency rates and conversion.
As president of NBC Sports Regional Networks and NBC Sports Group platform and content strategy, David Preschlack is responsible for nine NBC Sports Regional Networks in major markets across the country, a role that involves engaging with representatives from NBA, MLB, and NHL team partners. David Preschlack previously worked as executive vice president of affiliate sales and marketing with Disney and ESPN Network Groups, where he met his wife.
In early 2018, NBC and NBC Sports Network broadcast nearly 180 hours of live competition from the Winter Olympic Games in South Korea, which generated $900 million in advertising. In addition to televising live events, NBC utilized several digital platforms to cover events, including the NBC Sports app and a live stream at NBCOlympics.com. Coverage of the competition in South Korea exceeded broadcast expectations, with an average of 23.6 million viewers tuning in to prime time coverage windows. About two million of these viewers can be attributed to digital platforms.
