Nearly four months ago,
ESPN’s top production executive,
John Wildhack, sent out an internal memo to let people know the network was looking for a new “Monday Night Football” producer.
Jay Rothman, who has produced NFL games for ESPN since 2001, had accepted a bigger role at the company and decided to move out of the truck.
Over the past couple of weeks, Rothman quietly convinced his bosses that he should stay in the truck and remain ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” producer.
“I wasn’t ready to step down,” he said. “I didn’t sleep for two weeks. I just wasn’t ready for that. We have a good chemistry and a great thing going.”
Five media execs tell what caught their eye at CES
I asked several media executives to share their impressions of the recently completed CES show in Las Vegas.
Here are some of their responses:
■ David Levy, Turner Broadcasting System President: “3-D TV is a largely forgotten feature set. In 2012, it had a significant presence.”
■ Sean Bratches, ESPN executive vice president of sales and marketing: “I was impressed by the burgeoning in-car connected technology and related experiences,” which include self-driving cars and the ability to control cars remotely.
■ Brian Matthews, NFL senior vice president of media sales: “Wearable technology — from watches to glasses to fitness bands — seemed to be everywhere. [Also] the sheer number of television executives this year was surprising. CES was a digital event just a few years ago, and now you see execs from digital, TV, print, out-of-home attending.”
■ Jeff Marsilio, NBA vice president of global media distribution: “What struck me was how much technology is starting to look like magic. TVs have advanced to the point where the pixels, the bezels — they’ve practically disappeared. Now all that’s left is a window into ultra-realistic content.”
■ Peter Kiley, vice president, affiliate relations, C-Span: “I was impressed with the pace of progress in content discovery, through companies like Gracenote and Rovi Corp. We’re getting closer to a customized TV experience, where the TV sets learn what individual viewers like and come up with recommendations for them.”
One of the biggest points of regret after he decided to leave the truck was leaving his longtime partner
Chip Dean, director of “Monday Night Football.” Next season would mark the 25th season the two have worked side-by-side — 15 years on the NFL, and 10 years on college football.
“It sounds kind of stupid, but it meant a lot to me,” Rothman said. “I’ve always been shooting for that. Across all the networks, there are not a lot who can hang their hat on that.”
Even though he’s moving back into the production truck, Rothman will handle his new duties as well. He will oversee ESPN’s baseball production, with senior coordinating producer Phil Orlins reporting into him. And he is keeping a formal role mentoring young production staffers at ESPN, conducting seminars and coaching young producers.
I caught up with Rothman last week and asked him to describe his approach to producing NFL games.
“I heard that John Madden back in the day would throw away his notes after every game, and he would start every new game from scratch,” he said. “That’s kind of the approach we take.”
Rothman said this approach was particularly helpful during the recently completed “Monday Night Football” season, which featured several uncompetitive games.
“As a production unit, we take pride in not giving up on games,” he said. “There’s no plug-and-play to what we do.”
Rothman also defended analyst Jon Gruden,
{podcast}
SBJ Podcast:
John Ourand and Assistant Managing Editor Tom Stinson talk about the pressure on the College Football Playoff from ESPN and the NFL to adjust its future schedule, and what it could mean.
who was panned by top sports media critics this season, his sixth with the network. In September, for example, The New York Times wrote that it was “still waiting for him to become an interesting and entertaining analyst.”
“I don’t get it,” Rothman said. “I don’t buy into it. I just think that he’s a rock star. We travel week to week. He is loved by fans. I hear the reaction.”
Rothman highlighted Gruden’s work ethic and enthusiasm for the game.
“If they spend a week in the life with him, I don’t think media reporters will write what they’ve been writing,” he said. “They would see how he does it and see how hard he works. It’s no disrespect to all the analysts I’ve worked with, but this dude is in a class of his own.”
John Ourand can be reached at jourand@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @Ourand_SBJ.
