ESPN's Chuck Gerber Leaving Net To Be Consultant For SEC
By John Ourand, Staff Writer
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Gerber Leaving ESPN To
Be Consultant For SEC |
SEC Commissioner MIKE SLIVE has hired ESPN VP/College Sports Programming CHUCK GERBER as a consultant, where he will advise the conference on media issues and help it negotiate new TV contracts. Gerber plans to retire from ESPN -- a company where he has worked for 15 years -- on April 11 and will start consulting with the conference April 14. Despite coming from ESPN, Gerber said he plans to keep an open mind on what the conference should do with its TV contracts, which expire at the end of the next school year. "My job is to lay out the pros and cons and help them make the best decision they can make," Gerber said. That means the option of launching its own channel still will be on the table for the conference, Gerber said. Reflecting on his ESPN career, Gerber said he was most proud of helping to change the perception college conferences had regarding ESPN. "When I first took this [position] three years ago, there wasn't a college conference that wanted to do business with us," he said. "The conferences have come around 180 degrees on us because we've changed the way we do things. Now they understand what our needs are and we understand what their needs are."
MOVING UP: Meanwhile, ESPN has promoted ESPNU VP & GM BURKE MAGNUS to Senior VP/College Sports Programming, where he will report directly to Exec VP/Programming Acquisitions & Strategy JOHN WILDHACK. Magnus will take over most of Gerber's previous responsibilities.
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