EVP of Sports Eli Velazquez Takes Over Direction of Telemundo Deportes; Unveils Sports Leadership Team of Production Veterans

Executive Vice President of Sports, Eli Velazquez, will assume leadership of Telemundo Deportes and will report 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 Velazquez and Chris Suarez-Meyers at the Souq Waqif in Qatar.

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

The company also announced the sports leadership team reporting to 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.

Miguel Gurwitz, Velazquez, and Ana Jurka pose on the lakeside set at Super Bowl LVI.

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.