David Katz, executive VP of digital at Fox Sports, will leave the Fox Corp. division this fall after three years.
Katz is departing to “return to my entrepreneurial roots,” he wrote in a memo to Fox Sports staff Monday (read the full memo below). He also will serve as non-executive chairman of ThePostGame, the digital sports content and marketing agency he founded in 2007 and previously ran before joining Fox Sports in September 2018. In that capacity, he will work with ThePostGame CEO Eric Herd to further expand the company’s sports betting content business organically and via acquisitions.
Fox Sports hasn’t made a decision on who will be assuming his role. For now, Mark Silverman, president of Fox Sports National Networks (and Katz’s boss), will lead digital operations for the group. Katz plans to stay on until September to finish some sports betting projects for Fox Sports.
“It’s bittersweet to leave a place as good as Fox Sports,” Katz said. “This is as dynamic and thrilling a time as I’ve seen in sports media, and I’m excited to be exploring it further.”
During his tenure at Fox Sports digital, Katz led a significant app and website redesign that integrated gambling and bonus cams for the first time. Fox Sports also launched a new editorial and design division and recruited a team of digital-native talent including Charlotte Wilder, RJ Young, Mark Titus and Ben Verlander. Katz also worked closely with Fox Bet to drive real-money bettors as well as players of its free-to-play Super 6 game.
Prior to founding ThePostGame, Katz was head of Yahoo Sports, Entertainment and Studios, where he launched and oversaw Yahoo’s first original content division. Before that, Katz spent eight years at CBS as head of strategic planning and interactive ventures.
Read Katz’s memo announcing his exit:
Dear Colleagues,
After three amazing years leading the Digital division for FOX Sports, I have decided to leave the company and return to my entrepreneurial roots. While I am leaving a team that has become like family, I was fortunate enough to lead the best in the industry, and I am proud of our many accomplishments. I will depart knowing FOX Sports Digital is stronger than it’s ever been thanks to your dedication, passion and focus on excellence.
We re-designed and launched a fully reimagined app and website for FOX Sports which deeply integrated sports betting and bonus cams for the first time, growing streaming and video views double digits year-over-year and winning the Webby Award for Best Sports app. We won three additional Webby Awards for our innovation and industry-leading work around live Watch Parties. With more than 7.1 million viewers across digital platforms, the FOX Sports Super Bowl Watch Party was the network’s most viewed live watch party ever.
We launched a new editorial and design division, dominated the sports social media game, and recruited a popular team of digitally native talent including Charlotte Wilder, RJ Young, Mark Titus and Ben Verlander. We also worked closely with FOX Bet to drive real money bettors and Super 6 players.
With that in mind, Eric and Mark have asked me to stay on until September to finish some sports betting projects for the company. Looking ahead, part of my time will be spent as non-executive chairman of the company I founded, ThePostGame, working with our CEO to further grow our strong sports betting content business both organically and via acquisitions. I am also exploring opportunities where I can help transform the sports fan experience through content, ticketing and gaming.
I look forward to what this next chapter holds. I’ll always been cheering on FOX Sports as it continues to thrive.
With much gratitude,
David
