SPEED President Nickell Resigns

Hunter Nickell, President of SPEED, is leaving the network at year’s end. During Nickell’s tenure, SPEED reached several significant milestones, adding nearly 16 million homes to its current Nielsen Household reach of 84 million homes in North America.

Nickell will finish several projects with SPEED over the next few months and continue to explore opportunities within the FOX Sports Media Group. An interim replacement will be named shortly.

"It's unfortunate that Hunter is stepping away after all that he's done for SPEED," said FOX Sports Media Group Chairman David Hill. “He's a man of great character, a true gentleman and he's served FOX tirelessly for many years. Speaking for everyone at FOX and News Corp., his spirit and dedication will be missed."

Increasing its relationship with NASCAR under Nickell’s leadership, SPEED added several high-profile events to its programming lineup, including the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, the NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction ceremonies and all three of the NASCAR post-season awards banquets. Nickell also generated increased SPEED programming and marketing presence at every NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race on the circuit, giving SPEED unmistakable leadership in on-site network visibility.

In addition, Nickell elevated motor sports news efforts at SPEED, creating and expanding the SPEED Center franchise and strengthening relationships with Formula One, AMA Supercross, Grand-Am and other major series. He oversaw the development and expansion of SPEED digital efforts, the building of a state-of-the-art, high-definition studio in Charlotte in 2008 and the launch of SPEED2, an authenticated broadband network that complements the SPEED linear network in 2010.

Said Nickell: “I worked with great people and awesome partners … I am grateful and I have had a blast."

Nickell came to SPEED in 2005 after 12 years as general manager of FSN South, where he oversaw the nation’s largest regional sports television network.