Power Players: National Basketball Association

Jeff Geelsnba

Jeff Geels

Senior Vice President and Head of Direct-to-Consumer Business, National Basketball Association

Jeff Geels heads the NBA’s direct-to-consumer business and in the past year contributed to significant changes to the league’s flagship app, including the launch of its NBA ID global membership program. Other updates included personalized “For You” content feeds enabled by artificial intelligence and machine learning and lower-latency video streaming on par with linear broadcasts. The app generated 1 billion views during the 2022-23 season, part of a record-breaking campaign of digital and social engagement for the league. This is Geels’ second stop with the NBA; he started as the league’s senior director of DTC in 2016, before leaving one year later for a 4½-year stint with Discovery. — R.S.