Jimmy Pitaro, Burke Magnusgetty images (2)
— Top Influencers —
Jimmy Pitaro
Chairman, ESPN
Burke Magnus
President of Programming and Original Content, ESPN
With its ESPN+ streaming service, ESPN has been more active than other sports media companies. It’s not just the sheer volume of deals that Pitaro and Magnus were able to make in 2021, it’s how those deals were struck. ESPN paid, by far, the lowest increase of any media company for its NFL deal in March. It is paying MLB less money as part of its rights deal in May. And don’t forget that back in March it signed a seven-year deal to bring the NHL back at an average cost of around $400 million per year.
Pete Bevacqua, Molly Solomon, Gary Zenkel
Pete Bevacqua
Chairman, NBC Sports Group
Molly Solomon
Executive Producer and President of Olympics Production, NBC Sports Group
Gary Zenkel
President of Olympics and Business, NBC Sports Group
NBC Sports Group renewed “Sunday Night Football” through 2033 and the Premier League for the next six years. But it’s the work that these executives did around the Olympics that lands them on this list, from producing the Summer Games in Tokyo during a pandemic to planning for the Winter Games in Beijing just six months later.
Marie Donoghue (top), Jared Stacy
Marie Donoghue
Vice President, Global Sports Video, Amazon
Jared Stacy
Director, Global Live Sports Production, Amazon
The sports business has spent years waiting for Amazon to start spending big on sports rights. That moment came in March when it agreed to a deal for “Thursday Night Football” that eclipses $1 billion per year. A few months later, Amazon spent again, bringing in respected NFL producer Mike Muriano to oversee the production, a move that showed it means business as much as the $1 billion-per-year rights deal.
Vince McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, Nick Khan
Vince McMahon
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, WWE
Stephanie McMahon
Chief Brand Officer, WWE
Nick Khan
President and Chief Revenue Officer, WWE
There is clearly a repositioning of the WWE to a media business under Khan, who joined the company from CAA Sports in August 2020, especially with the move to Peacock as part of a five-year deal reported to be more than $1 billion. High-profile projects include a multipart Netflix docuseries on Vince McMahon’s life and a deal with Blumhouse Television on a scripted series about the WWE in the 1990s.
Sean McManus (top), David Berson
Sean McManus
Chairman, CBS Sports
David Berson
President, CBS Sports
Back in January, CBS Sports produced a kids-focused version of an NFL playoff game for Nickelodeon. In March, it picked up rights to the Italian soccer league Serie A and a few months later cut a deal for the Scottish Football League. This certainly is not your father’s CBS Sports, and the executive duo of McManus and Berson have ably led CBS Sports through all of the changes in media.
Eric Shanks (top), Mark Silverman
Eric Shanks
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Producer, Fox Sports
Mark Silverman
President of National Networks, Fox Sports
Instead of putting Fox Sports’ resources toward a streaming strategy, Shanks and Silverman focused on a mass audience strategy that has been favored by Wall Street. The fruits of their labor can be seen in the network’s “Big Noon” strategy around college football, which has turned the noon window into the most-viewed regular-season time slot after just two years.
Jeff Zucker (top), Lenny Daniels
Jeff Zucker
Chairman, WarnerMedia News and Sports
Lenny Daniels
President, Turner Sports
Discovery’s merger with WarnerMedia becomes official in 2022, which is when the sports business expected Zucker and Daniels to become more aggressive in picking up sports rights. But Turner added the NHL to its schedule as part of an April deal and put together a strong bid for Premier League rights. It now boasts one of the highest quality portfolios in all of sports media.
