Fox Networks Group President & COO RANDY FREER and Fox Sports President & COO ERIC SHANKS top SportsBusiness Journal's annual "50 Most Influential People In Sports Business" list. Freer and Shanks might seem like an "unlikely pair to take the top spot," but Fox Sports under their direction "dictated, shaped and in some cases inflated the sports media marketplace in recent years, gobbling up rights in a buildup to the August launches" of FS1 and FS2. Below is the complete list of this year's honorees. (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 12/9 issue).
|
RANK
|
NAME |
TITLE |
|
1
|
Randy Freer/
Eric Shanks |
Fox Networks Group President & COO
Fox Sports President & COO |
|
2
|
Roger Goodell |
NFL Commissioner |
|
3
|
John Skipper |
ESPN President |
|
4
|
David Stern/
Adam Silver |
NBA Commissioner
NBA Deputy Commissioner & COO |
|
5
|
Bud Selig
|
MLB Commissioner |
|
6
|
Dick Costolo |
Twitter CEO |
|
7
|
Robert Kraft |
The Kraft Group Founder Chair & CEO |
|
8
|
David Levy |
Turner Broadcasting Systems President |
|
9
|
Mark Lazarus |
NBC Sports Group Chair |
|
10
|
Sean McManus |
CBS Sports Chair |
|
11
|
Gary Bettman |
NHL Commissioner |
|
12
|
Brian France |
NASCAR CEO & Chair |
|
13
|
Phil Anschutz |
AEG Founder & Owner |
|
14
|
Tim Finchem |
PGA Tour Commissioner |
|
15
|
Jerry Jones |
Cowboys Owner |
|
16
|
Mark Walter |
Dodgers Chair and Guggenheim Partners Founder & CEO |
|
17
|
Mark MacDougall/
Mike Dolan/
George Pyne |
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld Partner
IMG Chair & CEO
IMG Sports & Entertainment President |
|
18
|
Mark Parker/
Trevor Edwards
|
Nike President & CEO
Nike Brand President
|
|
19
|
Casey Wasserman |
Wasserman Media Group Chair & CEO |
|
20
|
Sepp Blatter |
FIFA President |
|
21
|
Tim Brosnan/
Rob Manfred |
MLB Exec VP/Business
MLB COO |
|
22
|
Don Garber |
MLS Commissioner |
|
23
|
Mike Slive |
SEC Commissioner |
|
24
|
Jim Delany |
Big Ten Commissioner |
|
25
|
Melinda Witmer |
Time Warner Cable Exec VP & Chief Video and Content Officer |
|
26
|
Kevin Plank |
Under Armour Founder & CEO |
|
27
|
John Henry |
Fenway Sports Group Owner |
|
28
|
Indra Nooyi |
PepsiCo Chair & COO |
|
29
|
Larry Probst/
Scott Blackmun |
USOC Chair
USOC CEO |
|
30
|
Michael Levine/
Howard Nuchow |
CAA Sports co-Heads |
|
31
|
Tim Leiweke |
MLSE President & CEO |
|
32
|
Paul Chibe/
Blaise D'Sylva |
Anheuser-Busch U.S. CMO
Anheuser-Busch VP/Media, Sports & Entertainment Marketing |
|
33
|
Mark Emmert |
NCAA President |
|
34
|
Jeff Pash |
NFL Exec VP & General Counsel |
|
35
|
Jerry Reinsdorf |
White Sox & Bulls Chair |
|
36
|
Ed O'Bannon |
O'Bannon v. NCAA Lead Plaintiff |
|
37
|
Thomas Bach |
IOC President |
|
38
|
Don Fehr |
NHLPA Exec Dir |
|
39
|
Herbert Hainer |
adidas Chair & CEO |
|
40
|
Bob Bowman |
MLB Advanced Media President & CEO |
|
41
|
Chris Tsakalakis |
StubHub President |
|
42
|
Tom Long/
Andy England |
MillerCoors President & Chief Commercial Officer
MillerCoors CMO |
|
43
|
Sean Bratches |
ESPN Exec VP/Sales & Marketing |
|
44
|
Jed York |
49ers CEO |
|
45
|
Rick Dudley |
Octagon Worldwide President & CEO |
|
46
|
Alex Rodriguez/
Fred Horowitz |
Yankees 3B
Chief Arbitrator |
|
47
|
DeMaurice Smith |
NFLPA Exec Dir |
|
48
|
Stephen Espinoza |
Showtime Sports Exec VP & GM |
|
49
|
Asim Pasha |
Sporting Innovations Managing Partner and Sporting K.C. CIO & Chief Architect |
|
50
|
Vladimir Putin |
Russia President |
TWITTER REAX: Horrow Sports Ventures Exec Dir Brian Finkel wrote, "Sports media execs ARE the most influential. Sports would never be as big as they are today without the billions of TV $$$." Collegiate Licensing Co. Manager/Apparel Management Marcus Dittmer: "Interesting, #MLS' Don Garber ranks ahead of Mike Slive and Jim Delany on @sbjsbd's 50 most influential list." GoHeels.com columnist Adam Lucas: "Two of the top 25 most influential people in sports business (via @sbjsbd) are UNC grads: Skipper and Delany." American Cable Association VP/Communications Ted Hearn: "Russia's Putin lands dead last on SBJ's list of sports big shots [Guess Vlad needs to 'borrow' a few more SB rings]." Author James Andrew Miller: "Gotta love Putin at #50." K.C. Business Journal Editor Brian Kaberline: "Pasha comes in at #49, beating Vladimir Putin (Now THAT is cool.)." SportsPro magazine Editor James Emmett: "IOC pres Thomas Bach a lowly 37 in SBJ's 50 Most Influential. Reflection of US attitudes or publication's focus?" Check-In For Good co-Founder Rob Katz: "Arod making the list is awful. Too many others doing positive things for him to be listed." North Carolina State Univ. Assistant Dir of Marketing Kara Kovert: "The '50 Most Influential People in Sports' only includes 2 women. Interesting." LM&O Advertising Account Coordinator Alix Montes: "Another list in need of tanning. Also Jay Z is nowhere to be found."
