Biography

Kevin Lopes​ is a University of Rhode Island alum (Communications Studies ’05). At URI, Kevin was active in track and field, President of the Student Senate, and member of the Student Alumni Association. After URI, his passion for communication and sports led him to ESPN.

​Kevin​ first  join​ed ESPN as programming coordinator in 2008 from the Big East Conference. He now has extensive experience at ESPN, and recently joined the ESPN Business Development​ team as Director​, where he identifies and evaluates potential third-party opportunities​ and works closely with the ESPN Corporate Strategy Team​ on a variety of ​ initiatives, including esports and betting​. Prior to being Director of Business Development, Kevin was​ ESPN’s ​Director​ of​ Digital Media Programming & Acquisitions, ​responsible for scheduling/operational oversight of 10K+ live digital events, digital collegiate acquisitions, DMVPD scheduling/metadata, and esports programming acquisitions and strategy. Kevin’s contributions include ​negotiating​ multiple recent college acquisitions for ESPN+ including the Ivy league and A-10 conference agreements​, and personally negotiating all of ESPN’s esports agreements to date including the first live esports event to air on linear TV in April 2015 and the most recent Overwatch League agreement, and working on the NCAA, High School, College Football, and Digital platforms​.

Lopes says that “University of Rhode Island helped me. People underestimate the opportunity they have to be successful at URI.” He suggests that students get involved on campus. “The more involved you are, the better your lifelong friendships will be, and the better your networks will be.”