Russell Wolff

Executive Vice President & Managing Director ESPN International

Russell Wolff was promoted from senior vice president to executive vice president in November 2004.  He has served as managing director of ESPN International since June 2002.  He is based in ESPN International’s New York City headquarters and reports directly to George Bodenheimer, President, ESPN Inc. and ABC Sports.

Wolff is fully responsible for all of ESPN’s international businesses, which include partial or whole ownership of 46 networks televised outside of the United States, as well as radio businesses in 5 countries and several popular sports websites.  Wolff also overseas a variety of ancillary  international businesses including ESPN The Magazine in China, ESPN The Magazine Mexico, consumer products, wireless initiatives, and international X Games events.  Under Wolff’s guidance, the distribution of ESPN programming and branded products outside the US has grown to reach an estimated 217 million households in over 200 countries and territories worldwide.

In his role, Wolff also represents ESPN’s interests in a variety of joint ventures including ESPN Star Sports in Asia, ESPN Classic Sport in Europe, CTV Specialty Television, Inc. in Canada, and J Sports ESPN in Japan.  

Among his accomplishments with ESPN, Wolff spearheaded a project to establish ESPN’s first branded television network in Europe.  His efforts produced ESPN Classic Sport, a new network of European sports channels dedicated to showcasing the greatest moments in sports history.  ESPN Classic Sport launched in 2002 and today offers dedicated French, Italian, and English feeds to more than 23 million households in 43 countries across Europe. In May 2008 ESPN Classic launched in Africa and the Middle East, reaching a further 2 million sports fans in another 70 countries. In December 2006, Wolff led the acquisition of NASN, the only European network dedicated to broadcasting the best North American sports, airing over 800 live and as-live sports events each year.  The net re-branded as ESPN America in February this year and is currently available in 43 countries in Europe and a further 19 in the Middle East. 

This August, Wolff oversaw an exciting advancement in the company’s efforts to grow its business in Europe.  The launch of the ESPN channel, its third network in the region in addition to ESPN America and ESPN Classic Sport, is the home of Barclay’s Premier League, one of the most coveted sports properties in the world,  The channel is available throughout the region in millions of homes via distribution agreements with SKY, Virgin Media and others, in both standard definition (SD) and high-definition (HD).  Considered industry-wide as one of ESPN’s major milestones in Europe, Barclay’s Premier League debuted on ESPN August 15, 2009 from ESPN’s state-of-the-art studios in the U.K.  In addition to Barclay’s Premier League, ESPN offers a great mix of international and US sports on the new network including exclusive live rights to Clydesdale Bank Premier League, UEFA Europa League and games from the German, Dutch, Russian and Portuguese national football leagues, Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Top 14 Orange (French Rugby Championship), the Australian Football League (AFL), the NBA. 

Wolff also oversees ESPN’s international HD services. He oversaw the launch of ESPNHD in Australia (May 2008) which marked the company’s first HD service outside the U.S. and ESPNHD in Brazil (April 2009), the company’s first HD service in Latin America.  Wolff is also responsible for guiding ESPN’s digital expansion which includes ESPNSoccernet.com – the destination of choice for football fans worldwide; ESPNCricinfo.com – the world’s leading cricket website (acquired in June 2007), ESPNscrum.com – a leading rugby news, features and information portal (acquired in August 2007), Racing-live.com – the world’s leading independent motor racing website (acquired in August 2008), ESPNdeportes.com – the most viewed Spanish-language sports site on the Internet, and ESPN.com.br, ESPN Brazil’s year-old portal.  ESPN360, the company’s customized broadband service, has launched in several countries and regions since 2007, including Brazil, Chile, continental Europe, Mexico and UK.

In September 2002, Wolff was appointed by Bodenheimer to lead the effort to launch ESPN Deportes, the company’s 24-hour Spanish-language network in the U.S.   Since launching in January 2004, ESPN Deportes has secured distribution agreements with all major cable operators in the U.S. and reaches more than 44% of Hispanic households in the U.S.

Wolff first joined ESPN International in 1997 as vice president, managing the company’s business interests in the Pacific Rim.  In 1998, he joined ESPN Star Sports, as vice president of programming and event management and was later promoted to senior vice president.  Wolff returned to ESPN in 2000 as senior vice president to manage a diverse portfolio of international activities, including programming, marketing, and the company’s businesses in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. 

After graduating from Dartmouth College with an A.B. degree in 1989, Wolff began his career at the Leo Burnett Company in Chicago (1989-1992).  Shortly afterwards, he returned to Dartmouth and received his M.B.A. from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration.  From 1994 to 1997, he worked at MTV Networks as director, market development, handling affiliate sales and marketing to alternative distributors for MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Comedy Central, and Nick at Nite’s TV Land. 

Wolff is currently the chairman of the board of ESPN STAR Sports, and also serves on the boards of CTV Specialty Television, Inc., ESPN Classic Sport, and the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  He also serves as an advisor on the television council of FIBA, the international Basketball Federation.

Wolff frequently returns to Dartmouth as a guest speaker.

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