Joseph M. (Joe) Cohen, currently president of The Switch Sports Group and chairman and CEO of West Ridge Associates, is recognized universally for both his accomplishments in and contributions to the television broadcast industry. He is highly regarded as a pioneer in the sports television industry, but his record of achievement extends well beyond television. The Cohen touch has created and revived companies and organizations in television, cable, radio, arena operations, arena development and management, and professional sports franchises, among others.
Cohen’s expertise has been called on in service to a myriad of committees and organizations. He served on the television committees for both the NHL and NBA between 1977-85, representing the New York Rangers and New York Knicks. He also helped negotiate the NHL’s contract with ESPN. From October 2018-May 2019, Cohen served as an adviser to Platinum Equities on its bid to purchase Fox regional sports networks from The Walt Disney Company. In addition, he was active in the production and management of live events at arenas and racetracks.
Named in 2024 to advisory board of Seregh (pronounced Surge), an innovative platform dedicated to investing in and developing real estate around sports and entertainment venues.
In 2022, he was named to the board of directors of AMC Networks, an American entertainment company. Also, he was selected chairman of Brand Velocity Group Sports, a sports investment vehicle that sits within the BVG platform. Further, he and his wife, Rita, were inducted into the Joe Torre Safe at Home Foundation Hall of Fame.
In 2020, he was named to the board of directors of MSG Sports Corp. (NYSE: MSGS), marking a return to his professional roots at MSG, where he began his career 50 years earlier.
In 2019, Cohen was inducted into the Legacy Wing of the WWE Hall of Fame. He was instrumental in the creation of what is now known as the WWE Universe. Cohen believed in the potential of WWE programming and helped build partnerships that launched sports entertainment programming into the mainstream.
In 2016, Cohen was honored by Sports Business Journal as a member of its Champions: Pioneers & Innovators in Sports Business, and he was named to the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame. He is a multi-Emmy Award winner for sports production. In 1996, he was named a Cable Pioneer, one of the highest accolades an individual can receive from the industry.
Cohen merged his company, HTN Communications LLC, with The Switch in 2013. The Switch is the leading provider of customer-controlled video-switching services throughout key media markets nationally and internationally.
In 2005, Cohen served as principal architect of SportsTime Ohio. STO was a northern Ohio regional sports network reaching nearly three million homes and designed to offer a variety of sports programming produced for the Ohio sports fan. STO offered 150 Cleveland Indians games annually with all games in HD and 52 weeks of Indians and Cleveland Browns coverage. STO successfully sold to Fox Sports in 2012.
Cohen acquired Hughes Television Network on three occasions: 1975, 1985 and 2003. Upon becoming president of MSG Network in 1979, one of Cohen’s first moves was to acquire Hughes Television Network, a broadcast transmission delivery company. In 1985, Cohen left Madison Square Garden and MSGN to form an investment group which would ironically purchase HTN from the Garden. He served as HTN’s president and CEO after the acquisition until its sale in 1989. Following the final re-acquisition of HTN in 2003, Cohen embarked on a successful rejuvenation of the property.
During his tenure as president of MSG Network, Cohen used his entrepreneurial spirit and unique understanding of the industry to co-found the USA Network with Bob Rosencrans, transforming UA/Columbia Cable Television into a 24-hour, national broadcast entity. It was that opportunity that saw Cohen and USA Network negotiate the first-ever cable broadcast contracts for the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Cohen was executive vice president at Madison Square Garden, where he was responsible for MSGN, the acquisition and integration of Fox Sports Net New York (Mets, Nets, Islanders and Devils), and MSG Radio (Knicks, Rangers and Yankees), among a host of other duties. Always at the forefront of the profession, he was responsible for MSGN’s innovative development of High-Definition Television (HDTV) and for the network’s record Emmy awards during his tenure. Closed captioning and SAP also were implemented during this period. It was fitting that Cohen, who had nurtured the network in it’s infancy, came back to run it in its teen years.
In fall 2000, Cohen was charged with the responsibility of developing a new, state-of-the-art Madison Square Garden arena and entertainment complex as well as a practice facility for the Rangers, Knicks and Liberty. This acclaimed facility, located in Greenburgh, N.Y., opened in fall 2002.
Cohen’s vast talents manifested themselves in another venue from 1993-95, when the Los Angeles Kings were trying to recover from an economic crisis. Cohen was named chairman of the NHL club and steered them back to a positive course.
His imprint on the West Coast began in 1986, when Cohen put together another investment group, this time buying Z Channel in Los Angeles and adding Dodgers, Angels and Clippers games to the mix. He served as the company’s CEO and promptly led the entity to prominence in the market.
In 1989, Cohen successfully sold Z Channel to Rainbow Program Services (Cablevision) and HTN to IDB, where he joined the board. In 1991, he was named president of Spectacor West and served as project manager for a proposed Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum renovation for the Oakland Raiders. He also held the titles of president and CEO of Spectacor Films.
In 1975, Cohen was named vice president of MSG Cable and vice president of Development
for the Garden, serving in both roles for four years. In 1979, he was elevated to president of MSG Network, where he was responsible for advertising, sales, production and program development for MSGN, as well as the broadcast and cable operations of all Garden events. During his tenure, MSGN experienced unmatched growth and established itself as one of the largest regional cable broadcast networks in the country.
Cohen began to make his mark in New York when he was assistant to the vice president of Operations at Madison Square Garden Corporation from 1970-72. He ascended rapidly in Garden operations, becoming the director of special forces from 1972-73 and director of bookings from 1973-74.
A board member emeritus of the March of Dimes and co-founder of the March of Dimes Sports Luncheon in 1984, Cohen is a trustee of the New York Sports Museum and Hall of Fame, and he has advised numerous public organizations, including the New York State Council for the Arts. In 1996, he was the recipient of the Boy Scouts Good Scout Award and in 1998 received the prestigious Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
In 2004, Cohen was elected to the Board of Trustees of California Institute of the Arts (CALARTS), one of the leading arts colleges in the United States. He served as vice chairman of Campus Affairs of the institute and currently is a trustee emeritus. He is on the board of CALARTS’ REDCAT, an interdisciplinary contemporary arts center for innovative visual, performing and media arts in downtown Los Angeles, located inside the Walt Disney Concert Hall complex. Cohen lent his expertise to former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s Blue Ribbon Committee on a proposed downtown sports stadium from 2009-13.
He serves on the Board of Directors and is the treasurer for the Maccabi World Union, an international Jewish sports organization. In 2007, he became a member of the Advisory Board for the Sports Video Group. He serves on the board of Joe Torre’s Safe at Home Foundation and was co-chair from 2013-2019 of the Dean’s Council for the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU.
Born and raised in New York, Cohen attended Joel Braverman High School in Brooklyn before matriculating to the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a BS in Economics in 1968. He earned an MBA at Penn’s Wharton School of Business two years later.
Cohen and his wife Rita, have four daughters and four grandchildren.
