ESPN Deportes Elevates Freddy Rolón

BRISTOL: Freddy Rolón has been named VP and general manager of Spanish-language sports brand ESPN Deportes.

In his new role, Rolón, who joined ESPN in 2004, will oversee all aspects of the ESPN Deportes business, including ESPN Deportes television, the Spanish-language sports cable network that reaches 5.9 million Hispanic households and is available on WatchESPN. He will work closely with Traug Keller, the senior VP of ESPN Audio, on the ESPN Deportes Radio business. He will report to Russell Wolff, the executive VP and managing director of ESPN International.

In addition, Rolón and the ESPN Deportes team will work with ESPN’s programming, production, audio, digital and print media teams to maximize the relevance and appeal of ESPN’s English-language products to U.S. Hispanic fans. Rolón will also collaborate with Gerardo Casanova, the VP and general manager of ESPN Latin America North (Mexico and Central America) on key areas of the business such as audience and content development.

“Freddy brings an expert blend of market intelligence, content know-how, brand knowledge and leadership to his new role,” said Wolff. “The collaboration between Freddy and Gerardo will also help us find creative and innovative ways to best serve U.S. Hispanic fans on all of ESPN’s platforms.”

Rolón commented: “ESPN is perfectly poised to serve the growing U.S. Hispanic audience in both Spanish and English. We have tremendous expertise within the ESPN Deportes team, in addition to company-wide support for our efforts. I’m excited to work with this talented team of professionals to develop ESPN’s English, Spanish and bilingual strategies, and to identify new opportunities to propel our business forward.”