WILLIAM HAUSER / FOX SPORTS 1
WILLIAM HAUSER / FOX SPORTS 1
1
RANDY
FREER
President & COO
Fox Networks Group
Eric
Shanks
President & COO
Fox Sports
CHANGE FROM 2012: +5
The Fox duo seems an unlikely pair to take the top spot. But under the direction of Freer and Shanks, Fox Sports 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 Fox Sports 1 and Fox Sports 2. The nuts and bolts of the three-month-plus life of Fox Sports 1 don’t matter much to us. We’re looking more at a long-term, deeply funded programmer with multiple networks and platforms that will continue to be an aggressive bidder on sports rights — and will help maintain the inflated, lucrative media market that is driving the sports business today.
{podcast}
SBJ Podcast:
Abe Madkour & John Ourand on the selection of Fox's Randy Freer and Eric Shanks as No. 1 and why media executives dominate this year's list.
Seat At The Top
SportsBusiness Journal’s selections as the most influential people in sports business
2004 Paul Tagliabue
2005 George Bodenheimer
2006 George Bodenheimer
2007 Brian Roberts
2008 George Bodenheimer*
2009 Jacques Rogge
2010 Roger Goodell
2011 Steve Burke
2012 John Skipper
2013 Randy Freer & Eric Shanks
* President-elect Barack Obama was named #1(a).
