The Sports Business Awards last night clearly belonged to Lifetime Achievement Award winner Dick Ebersol, who was surrounded by friends and family filling three tables at the front of the Broadway Ballroom at the Marriott Marquis at Times Square. The former NBC Sports Chair's moving remarks touched on the importance of family, relationships and how fortunate the execs in the room were to work in sports. After Ebersol’s remarks, acceptance speeches for the rest of the evening were filled with similar themes and lots of appreciation for Ebersol’s many accomplishments. NBC’s Bob Costas and Cris Collinsworth brought some laughs to the traditionally nervous audience when they introduced Ebersol. The two skillfully played off each other and had three fun videos to showcase various moments in Ebersol’s career -- such as sprinter Dennis Mitchell walking away from interviewer Collinsworth during the '96 Atlanta Games without giving an answer and a bombastic Vince McMahon opening the first XFL game by growling, “This is theeeeee XXXXXX-FFFFF-LLLL.” (To which Costas deadpanned on stage, “It was one of my proudest moments being associated with the National Broadcasting Company.”) The final video, of Bruce Smith fainting in the middle of an interview on TNT’s NFL highlight show, actually had nothing to do with Ebersol. However, Costas and Collinsworth thought it was so funny that they had to show it anyway and blamed it on Ebersol’s replacement, Mark Lazarus, who ran TNT at the time. Ebersol was easily the star of the show, holding court and greeting a long list of people that included the likes of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Wasserman Media Group Founder, Chair & CEO Casey Wasserman. Ebersol even planted a kiss on the cheek of CBS Sports Chair Sean McManus. After the show, a group almost 20 deep, including current and former NBC execs Jim Bell, Jeff Zucker, Molly Solomon, Ken Schanzer and Mike McCarley, celebrated with Ebersol and his family on the main stage and posed for photos (THE DAILY).
