NBC Sports has hired former Chiefs GM Scott Pioli for its "Football Night In America" studio program, and he will "appear weekly on either the FNIA studio set in New York City or at the game site of Sunday Night Football," according to Richard Deitsch of SI.com. He also will appear "every Monday on the NBC Sports Network's Pro Football Talk in segments with FNIA analyst Rodney Harrison." Pioli's segments will be a "work in progress." On some weeks, he will "appear in-studio with analysts Tony Dungy and Harrison or with Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio and reporter Peter King." NBC Sports Exec Producer Sam Flood said that he also might "send Pioli to the Sunday Night Football game site, where he'd appear with host Bob Costas and analyst Hines Ward." Flood said, "I just saw another smart football mind that gives us a different perspective that we don't have on the team right now -- a player personnel guy who has a smart way of looking at the game. We will try him in different areas throughout the show and it will all depend on his development." Pioli said that he was "contacted shortly by a number of different TV networks and NFL teams after he lost his job" with the Chiefs in January. NBC Sports Senior VP/Production and Senior Coordinating Producer Dan Steir "flew out to Kansas City in January to pitch him on the network." Pioli, when asked about being critical of former colleagues and friends in the league, said, "There is a big difference between criticizing the performance and criticizing the performer. I am not going to be a person who criticizes people. Most of my background in the media is theoretical and academic so I have not entered the realm, but I think that is part of our obligation in the media is to try not to make it personal" (SI.com, 6/17).
PIOLI SIGNS WITH IMG: SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Liz Mullen notes IMG has signed Pioli for representation with IMG Senior Corporate VP & Managing Dir of Clients Sandy Montag as the lead agent. Montag said, "Scott is a really intelligent former general manager; and we see tremendous upside for him in the broadcasting space" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/17 issue).
