LAS VEGAS (July 29, 2015) –World championship Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) sports franchise World Series of Fighting (WSOF.com) announced today that it has appointed sports media executive Carlos Silva to the position of CEO, effectively immediately.
The former President and COO of NBCU’s Universal Sports Network and former President and COO of Back9Network, Silva has launched, operated and spearheaded the meteoric growth of sports and entertainment media properties over the course of the last 25 years.
“I am excited to join one of the premier and most dynamic combat sports franchises on the planet in World Series of Fighting. They have a tremendous team of media and MMA industry veterans in place that works well with the blue-chip team at NBCU, our television partner that is helping us usher the company into its next chapter of growth,” said Silva.
Silva was an instrumental force behind the launch of Back9Network on DIRECTV in Sept. 2014 and, in just a two-year span, catapulted engagement of the start-up media company’s digital platform to two million monthly unique users.
During his four-year tenure with Universal Sports Network, Silva led the expansion of NBCU’s Olympic and lifestyle sports television platform into 68 million homes, including all top 10 U.S. markets, and increased the number of unique users of its digital platform to three million.
Earlier in his career, Silva, was a Senior Vice President with AOL Time Warner, and was responsible for developing AOL Sports, News, and Money into top premier digital destinations. Silva also remains as a Board Advisor for PARK LANE, the premier sports investment bank in Los Angeles.
WSOF action returns to NBCSN with a five-bout, live telecast on Sat., Aug. 1, at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT. In the main event of the star-studded, world championship doubleheader extravaganza, reigning WSOF World Welterweight (170 pounds) Champion Rousimar “Toquino” Palhares will risk his title against two-time world champion Jake Shields, from Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas.
