#252: David Levy, Co-CEO of Horizon Sports + Experiences – True vision takes guts

How Leaders Lead with David Novak

David Novak Leadership

Entrepreneurship, Business, Management

4.8 • 596 Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2025

⏱️ 54 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Have a big idea, but not sure how to make it happen? David Levy has been there. As Co-CEO of Horizon Sports & Experiences and the former President of Turner Networks, he’s led some of the boldest moves in sports and media. He forged the landmark March Madness deal that let fans watch every game across CBS and Turner. And now, he’s betting big on new ventures like The Pickleball Slam and Unrivaled, a 3-on-3 pro women’s basketball league. In this episode, David shares what it really takes to turn vision into action. Learn how to trust your instincts, back bold ideas with confidence, and lead people toward making them happen. You’ll also learn: The mark of a great leader (hint: it has nothing to do with your org chart) Why 100% agreement might be a huge red flag How to look beyond the obvious for big-growth opportunities The #1 leadership lesson he learned from Ted Turner Take your learning further. Get proven leadership advice from these (free!) resources: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠The How Leaders Lead App⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: A vast library of 90-second leadership lessons to stay sharp on the go ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Daily Insight Emails⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠: One small (but powerful!) leadership principle to focus on each day Whichever you choose, you can be sure you’ll get the trusted leadership advice you need to advance your career, develop your team, and grow your business.

Transcript

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0:00.0	If we were to start over from scratch and you were able to start a sports marketing company today
0:04.3	versus what you did 15, 20 years ago, what would you do differently? And that was our secret sauce
0:10.3	is we didn't have any legacy. What separates the people who spot big opportunities from the ones
0:16.5	who actually make them happen? Well, you're about to find out. Welcome to How Leaders Lead. I'm David
0:22.1	Novak, and every week I have conversations with the very best leaders in the world to help you become
0:27.5	the best leader that you can be. Today, I'm talking with David Levy, the co-CEO of Horizon Sports
0:34.1	and Experiences, and the former president of Turner Networks.
0:38.3	If you ever wondered who put the madness in March Madness, it's David.
0:42.8	He forged the landmark deal that let fans watch every NCAA tournament game across all
0:49.1	the CBS and Turner networks, and it took the popularity of the tournament to a whole new level.
0:56.3	These days, he's betting on innovative formats like the pickleball slam and unrivaled,
1:00.9	which is a three-on-three women's pro basketball league.
1:04.1	And behind all of it is a big vision for the future of sports, media, and live events.
1:10.3	But here's the thing.
1:11.6	Vision isn't just about spotting these opportunities.
1:14.7	It's about having the guts to act on them.
1:17.7	And in this episode, you'll see how to trust your instincts on those big ideas, back them
1:22.0	with confidence, and then lead people to making it all happen.
1:26.0	Here's my conversation with my good friend and soon to be
1:29.1	yours, David Levy. Here you are. You've come up in the traditional cable world. You know,
1:40.5	I got to ask you, how many streaming services do you have at your home now?
1:49.0	Well, I'm one of those guys that, unfortunately, I probably don't even know how much I'm paying for all of them, but I probably have six of them that I'm either paying for or got for free with some
	...

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