Christine Driessen has influenced virtually every deal ESPN has cut during her career at the network, but her importance goes way beyond the company’s deep pockets. Driessen’s charge is to develop bids that will help ESPN get sports rights while also making sure that the company doesn’t bid too much as the competition to win the rights moves along. “I am there to give a realistic view to counter the rabid enthusiasm for all things sports,” Driessen said. And ESPN’s top executives use Driessen’s counsel. She goes into each negotiation with a bid that ESPN can’t go over, a calculation that’s become increasingly difficult to make as more rights get thrown into the mix. “We hate when we don’t get the rights,” she said.