McManus and former CBS Chairman Michael H. Jordan celebrate the deal that returned the NFL to CBS.getty images
1979-82: NBC Sports, associate producer (included the NFL, Wimbledon, PGA Tour, “Sportsworld,” auto racing and Tour de France
1982-87: NBC Sports, vice president of program planning and development (included rights negotiations for the Olympics, Orange Bowl, football, tennis, basketball, horse racing and auto racing)
1987-96: Trans World International (IMG’s television division), senior vice president of American TV sales and programming
1996-2024: CBS Sports president
1997: CBS announces it will acquire a 22% stake in Sportsline USA, now known as CBSSports.com.
1998: Brings the NFL back to CBS following a four-year absence, with an eight-year, $4 billion deal
1998: Extends the SEC football and men’s and women’s basketball deal for eight years and roughly $225 million through the end of the 2008-09 season
1999: Extends NCAA Division I men’s basketball championship rights with an 11-year, $6 billion deal that adds internet, marketing and corporate sponsorship, merchandising, licensing, cable television, radio, satellite, digital and home video to the partnership. The deal runs through 2013 and more than doubles the network’s $1.73 billion, seven-year pact that runs through 2002.
2004: Signs a six-year, $3.7 billion extension of NFL rights through 2011
2004: Signs a 10-year, $200 million basketball-only deal with the Big Ten through 2015-16
2005-11: Adds role of CBS News president
2006: Names Katie Couric as anchor and managing editor of the “CBS Evening News” and a correspondent for “60 Minutes”
2006: Oversees the acquisition of College Sports Television (CSTV) and rebrands it as CBS College Sports Network (rebranded again in 2011 as CBS Sports Network)
2008: Serves as executive producer for “Inside the NFL” on Showtime, which wins the Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Studio Show-Weekly in its first season
2008: Signs a 15-year, $825 million extension for SEC football and basketball through the 2023-24 season
2010: Inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame
2010: Partners with Turner Broadcasting for a $10.8 billion extension of men’s basketball championship rights through 2024
2011: Extends the U.S. Tennis Association agreement to broadcast the U.S. Open through 2014. Terms are not disclosed but the previous deal pays the USTA between $20 million and $25 million annually. Also extends the Big Ten basketball deal through the 2016-17 season.
2010: “CBS Reports: Children of the Recession,” a months-long series of reports on the effects of the dramatic economic downturn on America’s youth, conceived and overseen by McManus, wins the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. All told, the CBS News Division under McManus won three duPont Awards, 19 Emmy Awards, four Peabody Awards and 29 Radio Television Digital News Association/Edward R. Murrow Awards.
2011: Named chairman of CBS Sports
2011: Secures a nine-year, $1 billion deal to retain the NFL through the 2022 season
2012: Acquires select broadcast rights for ACC, Big 12 and Pac-12 Conference men’s college basketball games from ESPN
2014: Signs a one-year, $275 million deal for the NFL’s new “Thursday Night Football” package
2014: The first, nationally televised, all-female, weekly, hourlong, prime-time sports show, “We Need to Talk,” debuts on CBS Sports Network.
2015: Signs a one-year, $300 million deal to retain the NFL “Thursday Night Football” package
2016: Signs a two-year deal for NFL “Thursday Night Football” with NBC, splitting evenly a $450 million annual cost
2016: Extends Big Ten basketball through the 2022-23 season for $10 million per year
2016: Inducted into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame
2016: Partners with Turner Broadcasting on an $8.8 billion extension of NCAA Division I men’s basketball championship rights through 2032
Tony Romo (right) joined Jim Nantz in the booth as the lead NFL broacast team for CBS. getty images
2017: Names Tony Romo the lead NFL analyst on the same day the former quarterback announces his retirement from football
2017: Signs a 10-year extension, through 2028, of the annual Army-Navy football game, which CBS has telecast since 1996
2018: CBS Sports HQ streaming video channel launches
2018: Extends multimedia rights with the PGA of America and ESPN to the PGA Championship for 11 years beginning in 2020
2020: Signs Romo to a 10-year extension to remain at CBS until 2031; reaches a multiyear broadcast rights extension with the PGA Tour through 2030
2021: Signs an 11-year, $2.1 billion multiplatform deal with the NFL through the 2033 season
2022: Secures Big Ten football (including the 2024 and 2028 championship games) and basketball in a seven-year, $8.05 billion deal with Fox and NBC, the most lucrative conference rights deal in college athletics history
2022: Signs a six-year extension with the UEFA Champions League through the 2029-30 season to stream games on Paramount+ and select matches on CBS Sports Network and CBS
2024: CBS broadcasts the first Super Bowl in Las Vegas
2024: At his final Masters tournament as CBS Sports’ chief (an event his father, Jim McKay, called for CBS from 1957-60), McManus renews the event’s media rights agreement the same way he had done for the past 27 years — with a handshake.
