NFL Senior Sales Exec Ron Furman Leaving League To Join Comcast
By Terry Lefton, Editor-At-Large
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Furman Leaving NFL
For Position With Comcast |
The NFL's most senior sales exec is leaving for a top sports sales job at Comcast. RON FURMAN, the league's Senior VP/Consumer Marketing & Sales, is taking a job as Comcast Senior VP/Sports Sales, based in N.Y. and reporting to DAVE CASSARO, President of Comcast Network ad sales. The move had been rumored for months. Furman declined comment. However, industry sources said he will start in July and that his new job will combine sports sales for the Comcast-owned Golf Channel, Versus and Comcast SportsNet RSNs. Sources added that the possibility of assembling a sports net out of Comcast's disparate pieces, and possibly making another run for Comcast at NFL rights, is what attracted Furman. Earlier this year, Comcast, the nation's largest cable TV operator, and the NFL ended a long dispute, reaching agreement to air NFL Network on its second-most popular digital service tier. RAY WARREN continues to head sales for the RSNs as Comcast Exec VP & Chief Revenue Officer. A veteran media salesman, Furman joined the NFL in April '06 from MTV where he was Senior VP/Ad Sales. Prior to that, he spent six years at Univision as Exec VP/Sales & Marketing. Furman held a variety of sales positions at ABC Television from '87-98. An NFL spokesperson said no replacement has been named. Until a new person is hired, NFL Senior VP/Sales & Marketing MARK WALLER will fill in by working more closely with the NFL's media and customer marketing sales groups. Combined with the February exit of Senior VP/Partnership Marketing & Corporate Sales PETER MURRAY, the NFL's top sponsorship sales exec, Furman's departure leaves the league in a bind. In the midst of its offseason sales cycle and within a recession that has battered the marketing economy, along with the businesses of many current and prospective sponsors, the league is bereft of senior sales leadership. "There's a real sales vacuum there now," said an agency source. "This is not good timing for the NFL."
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