David Young enters his 21st NFL season and 16th overall with the Seahawks in 2024. As Chief Operating Officer for the Seahawks, Young is responsible for the leadership of several lines of business including Marketing & Brand, Retail Operations, Community Engagement, Production & Game Entertainment and the operation of Lumen Field, Lumen Field Event Center and the WAMU Theater.
The Seahawks brand continues to be among the strongest in professional sports and Young oversees a marketing team that is responsible for growing and evolving that brand both locally and nationally. The Seahawks rank toward the top of the NFL in total fanbase. The Seahawks brand is strong internationally as well thanks to the 12s Everywhere fan engagement initiative. In 2024 the NFL awarded Global Marketing Program rights to the Seahawks in Germany, Austria and Switzerland to accompany existing marketing rights the Seahawks have enjoyed in Canada since 2022.
Lumen Field continually ranks as one of the best stadiums in the country for fan experience and one of the busiest with over 2 million attendees and 300 event days annually. In 2023 Lumen Field was named Best NFL Stadium by USA Today and Best Live Music Venue by the Seattle Times. Under Young's leadership, maximizing event activity and innovating the fan experience have been top priorities. The number of annual concerts held at the facility increased 5x as top acts have chosen the WAMU Theater and Lumen Field as a stop. Through a unique innovation partnership with Amazon, Lumen Field has the highest number of concessions stands powered by Amazon Just Walk Out in all of sports. In 2023 Lumen Field piloted the first season-long Just Walk Out location for Retail.
In light of COVID-19's impact on the community, Young led the efforts to support numerous community programs in 2020 including utilizing the vast stadium and event center space to host an army field hospital, blood donation center, and make more than 120,000 emergency meals that were distributed throughout the Seattle area. He also oversaw the stadium's partnership with King County Elections to host a voter resource center, as well as the opening of the country's largest civilian-led COVID-19 community vaccination site at the Lumen Field Event Center in partnership with the City of Seattle, which opened in March 2021.
Young rejoined the organization after working as the Vice President of Stadium Operations with the Kansas City Chiefs from 2010-14. Prior to his time with the Chiefs, he spent six years with the Seattle Seahawks and First & Goal Inc. (2004-10) as the Assistant General Manager and Director of Guest Services. Young began his career at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida as an Operations Manager. The Woodland, Wash. native earned a degree in Communications from the University of Washington. He and his wife, Ali, live in Snoqualmie, Wash. with their children, Ella and Owen.
