Pete Bevacqua, Sean McManus, Jimmy Pitaro, Eric Shanks, Jeff Zuckergetty images (5)
Pete Bevacqua
Chairman, NBC Sports Group
Sean McManus
Chairman, CBS Sports
Jimmy Pitaro
Chairman, ESPN and Sports Content, The Walt Disney Co.
Eric Shanks
Chief Executive Officer and Executive Producer, Fox Sports
Jeff Zucker
Chairman, WarnerMedia News & Sports
The pandemic has taken its toll on media networks, as each network group has had to make significant job cuts to save on costs. But as the sports world ground to a halt in the spring, these networks demonstrated the importance leagues place on the media companies that produce their games. Consider Fox Sports, for example: Shanks greenlighted an esports competition with NASCAR drivers that brought in some of the biggest viewership numbers early in the pandemic. It was a similar story in Bristol, where ESPN looked for unique ways to fill a schedule suddenly bereft of sports. One of sports media’s most high-profile moves came in April when Pitaro pushed his production staff to speed up the editing process on the Michael Jordan documentary, “The Last Dance.” The move was well received, setting viewership records and earning critical praise. All of the networks can tell similar stories. Under Bevacqua, McManus and Zucker’s direction, NBC, CBS and Turner Sports, respectively, tested new ways to produce golf coverage early in the pandemic. The use of microphones and unique camera angles, including drones, set a template all media companies could follow as they pondered a future without fans and with strict social distancing guidelines in place. These early productions helped networks figure out how to produce games to look as normal as possible during a time when nothing looks or feels normal. The sense of normalcy among media executives came back in the latter part of the year as they negotiated a new round of media deals with the NFL, NHL, MLB and others. — John Ourand
