Menu
Leagues and Governing Bodies

‘You are going to do this’: Stern as media visionary

David Levy (right) said Stern painted an accurate picture of the importance of media partners to the NBA.nbae / getty images

A big part of David Stern’s legacy can be seen in the media business, where he made big bets that usually paid off — from his early embrace of prime-time playoff games to his 2002 decision to become the first professional sports league to embrace cable television.

During his time as commissioner, Stern developed close relationships with media executives, most of whom consistently describe him as a mentor and a friend.

NBC’s Mark Lazarus first got to know Stern in 1989, when the media executive worked on the Miller account for an ad agency. As Lazarus moved from the agency to Turner to NBC, he remained close with Stern, and is one of dozens of sports business executives who describe him as a mentor.

“David was never an ‘official’ mentor to anybody — he never considered himself a mentor,” Lazarus said. “But he had the type of leadership skills that made people view him with that lens.”

As an example, Lazarus pointed to a lunch the two shared in New York in early November. Stern “was as vivacious and cantankerous as ever,” Lazarus joked.

The conversation was dominated by talk of new sports businesses that the two could explore, like esports and gambling.

During the lunch, Stern told Lazarus, “You’re not thinking big enough.”

“That was not a throwaway line — I took it as a lesson,” Lazarus said. “He always challenged me to think differently about things.”

In 2007, Stern orchestrated a media rights deal with ESPN and Turner Sports that, combined, neared the $1 billion per year benchmark.

Network executives pushed Stern to give them more access during games, including putting microphones on players and coaches, and allowing cameras inside coaching huddles.

Stern invited ESPN’s John Skipper and Turner’s David Levy to explain their plans at a meeting that fall that included most of the league’s coaches. After Skipper and Levy made their presentations, one of the league’s older coaches spoke up and said his team was not going to participate.

At that point, Stern’s hand came crashing down on the table, creating a large bang. He looked around the room to make sure that everyone was paying attention and said, “Gentlemen, these two men represent companies that are paying us $1 billion per year. We are going to provide them some value. This is not a democracy. You are going to do this. Are there any questions?”

“That spoke to the fact that David was a very strong leader who had vision and knew what the league had to do in order to grow,” Skipper said.

Levy referenced Stern’s vision when he spoke of the part of that 2007 deal that had Turner operate the NBA’s digital businesses, including NBA TV. Levy recalled that Stern pushed for a profit-sharing deal with Turner, believing that building and operating media businesses is not a smart strategy for sports leagues.

“That is still a very important piece of his legacy,” Levy said. “David was always a leader in the digital arena, from executing that deal to understanding that his players should be on social media.”

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2020/01/06/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/Stern-media.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2020/01/06/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/Stern-media.aspx

CLOSE