After serving as Commissioner of the North American Soccer League (NASL) through its first and second seasons in 2011 and 2012, David Downs recently formed an international sports and media consulting practice.

Prior to his role as NASL Commissioner, Mr. Downs served the U.S. Soccer Federation in 2009 and 2010 as Executive Director for the USSF’s bid to host the FIFA World Cup™ in 2018 or 2022. Prior to the USSF, Mr. Downs spent 21 years at ABC Sports where he rose to SVP of Programming. He was responsible for the rights acquisition and scheduling of all of ABC Sports’ event coverage including the 1994 and 1998 FIFA World Cups.

Prior to ABC Sports, Mr. Downs spent 9 years at Univision Communications where he served as President of Univision Sports, overseeing all sports rights acquisition and production for all three Spanish-language networks,. It was during the latter years that Mr. Downs worked with FIFA, CONCACAF, and CONMEBOL to acquire the rights for most of the world’s prestigious soccer competitions including the FIFA World Cups in 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014.

In addition to his professional involvement with soccer, Mr. Downs sits on the board of FC Westchester, one of only 78 U.S. Development Academy youth clubs in the U.S. He is also a former college Soccer player (Amherst) and a licensed youth coach.