In 2008, my colleague Michael Smith and I broke the story that ESPN agreed to a contract worth $495 million over four years for what was then called the BCS Championship. The dollar figure we printed was oddly specific — usually the rights fees we’re given are adjusted by a couple of million to a nice, round number.
The thing is, we had an impeccable source on this one, and were confident enough to highlight it.
In 2008 Frank joined panelists at an SBJ conference to discuss the future of sports media.Shana Wittenwyler
A few weeks after the story broke, I moderated a panel with two of the executives who negotiated that deal: ESPN’s Burke Magnus and IMG’s Barry Frank. My first question went to Frank and was direct: How much were you hoping to get?”
His answer still makes me laugh.
“I was hoping to get a big number, which we did,” he said. “Not exactly as big as I wanted — just $5 million off. But close enough.”
With a gleam in his eye and a wry smile, Frank essentially outed himself to the audience as our source.
Frank died last week at the age of 87. He spent more than 50 years at some of the biggest sports media companies in the country: ABC, CBS, Trans World International and, of course, IMG. While at IMG, Frank essentially created the business of representing broadcasters. Legendary IMG executive Mark McCormack signed John Madden in 1980 after he had retired from coaching, but it was Frank who built that business. He helped create buzz-worthy TV shows like “Battle of the Network Stars” and “The Skins Game.” And he represented some of the most significant sports properties, like the Olympics and the ACC, in rights deals.
More than that, Frank set himself up as a mentor to people who are still prominent in the business.
For several years in the late 1980s and early 1990s at IMG, Frank worked out of a Midtown New York townhouse with Sandy Montag and CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus.
“For me as a young person coming up in the industry, just being a fly on the wall at 8 p.m. with those guys, it was a really unique situation that we had at IMG in those days that doesn’t exist today and really had a humongous impact on my career,” Montag said.
McManus spoke in a similar vein: “Barry was a huge friend and mentor to me. It was a tough one when I heard about his death.”
Frank’s résumé as a sports media executive is sharp. But it’s his other side as a nattily attired, Shakespeare-quoting character that most interests me. Smith and I reached out to some of the people who knew Frank best for their best stories about the legendary executive.
Sean McManus
“He was negotiating John Madden’s deal in 1994. In the aftermath of an earthquake, he flew to Los Angeles to take a meeting. He was beginning to give his proposal at Fox’s headquarters when an executive said to him, ‘Oh my gosh, we’re experiencing an aftershock right now.’ Without missing a beat, Barry said to her, ‘Well, you’re about to get another real aftershock.’ That was when they did the deal for $8 million to have John Madden go to Fox.”
Sandy Montag
“McCormack let us do what we wanted in terms of running the business and building the business. But he kept a tight rein on some things. There was one time where Mark called for Barry in the office at 10 a.m., and Barry wasn’t there. Don’t forget, there are no cellphones in the 1980s. When Barry gets into the office, Mark asks if he was taking a half day. Barry explained that he was getting his hair cut, so Mark responded that he should get his hair cut after hours. Barry said, ‘Mark, my hair grows on company time. I’m going to get it cut on company time.’ That defines Barry. He took no BS from anybody. I always laugh when I think about that.”
Bob Costas, MLB Network broadcaster
“He was the head of CBS Sports when I started at the age of 24 doing the occasional regional football and NBA game for $500 per game. I was 24 years old and looked like I was 15. He liked me. He encouraged me. And when he left CBS Sports to join Mark McCormack at IMG, he remembered me and called me and asked if I had an agent. I said, ‘Barry, if I had an agent, would I be making $500 a game?’ He said, ‘Can I represent you?’ to which I replied, ‘Sure, go ahead. Take a crack at it!’ Within a week, he had me a multiyear deal with NBC, which took me from the bench at CBS on a freelance situation to being part of the regular rotation on football and basketball on NBC and, soon enough, on baseball.”
John Swofford, ACC Commissioner
“I wear puffs in my sport coat daily now, and that’s because of Barry Frank. Every meeting I would have with him when he was working with the ACC, he would be in a coat and tie and he always had a puff of some kind in his sport coat pocket. I always admired his style from a dress standpoint, as well as in the way he went about business. Because he was intense and smart and tough, but he was also fun and enjoyable to work with. He loved the sports world and he loved sports people, and he loved being involved and in the middle of it all. And he had a tremendous career, and was a great friend and a very loyal friend.” (Editor’s note: Frank was Swofford’s first media consultant.)
