Eli Vazquez named EVP of Telemundo Deportes

NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises announced Eli Velazquez, Executive Vice President of Sports, will assume leadership of Telemundo Deportes, the network’s award-winning sports division, reporting to Beau Ferrari, Chairman, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. The announcement comes following Telemundo’s record breaking coverage of FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and its recently announced exclusive Spanish-language partnership with the U.S. Soccer Federation as the exclusive Spanish language home of the US National Teams across platforms.

A Telemundo veteran for over 20 years, Velazquez will lead the division with oversight over sports production, programming, acquisitions, operations and content. In this role, he is also responsible for the management and execution of major Spanish-language event coverage, including FIFA World Cup properties, the Olympic Games, NFL Sunday Night Football, U.S. Soccer Federation matches, Premier League and Liga MX’s Chivas de Guadalajara, and he will continue to work closely with NBC Sports and Peacock.

“Eli has played an integral role in helping build Telemundo Deportes into a world-class sports content organization and, with its leadership team, we are well positioned to continue leading as a premier sports destination across platforms in the U.S.,” said Ferrari.

The company also announced the sports leadership team reporting into Velazquez:

• Ivel Alfaro-Calvo, Vice President, Programming & Production, Sports: manages assignments and scheduling for sports programming and major event tentpoles, as well as sports editorial integrations and guest appearances across shows.
• Eliseo Cano Fernandez, Vice President, Business Operations & Finance, Sports: responsible for financial management of sports initiatives and business affairs, including new business development and acquisitions’ analysis.
• Roberto Pardo, Senior Vice President, Sports Content: leads content executions and production for sports programming and major events across linear and digital platforms, working with third party providers, Ad Sales and Network Partnerships.
• Christopher Suarez-Meyers, Senior Vice President, Sports Content Operations: leads all operational efforts and coordination related to sports programming and event production, including third-party vendor relationships, production services and technology procurement.

Velazquez has played an integral role in the management and execution of Telemundo Deportes’ marquee sports properties having led the production of Telemundo’s historic coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™, FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™, Copa America Brazil 2019 and more recently FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. During his tenure, Telemundo Deportes partnered with the U.S. Soccer Federation to become the exclusive Spanish-language home of U.S. National Teams and delivered the first-ever Super Bowl to air on a Spanish broadcast network in 2022, becoming the most-watched NFL game in Spanish-language history. He joined Telemundo in 1999 and progressed through leadership roles including Senior Producer, Director of Sports and Vice President of Sports.