SBJ Media: NBC's Bevacqua Talks Golf Channel Move

Shout out to BTN’s Mike Hall. It was 15 years ago today that the “Dream Job” winner helmed coverage from Oklahoma State as ESPNU launched on 03/04/05.

GOLF CHANNEL MOVE PART OF NBC SPORTS EVOLUTION

• The decision to move Golf Channel from Orlando to Connecticut, a move that should happen within the next 12 months, was years in the making, NBC Sports Group President Pete Bevacqua told me today. “It’s the continued evolution of the media landscape and something that started well before I got here if you think about how we brought all the different components of NBC Sports primarily under one roof in Stamford. This was the next step in that process.” NBC Sports HQ moved from Manhattan to Connecticut in 2013.
  
  
• Golf Channel told its employees of the plan at a meeting on Friday that was first reported on Twitter by the golf blog No Laying Up. While the channel’s linear TV operations are moving, Golf Channel’s digital businesses, including GolfPass and GolfNow, will stay in Orlando, as will the people who work in remote production. It’s not known how many staffers will be affected by the move.
  
  
• Speaking for the first time about the move, Bevacqua said that Golf Channel will benefit from working in close proximity to NBC Sports’ talented execs and producers. “Nothing can take the place of talented people interacting with one another. When you can have the great people of the Golf Channel interacting with the Sam Floods of the world and the Fred Gaudellis and the Rob Hylands and all the people that bring our other sports alive, we’re all going to be better. We’re all going to be more creative.”

WILL ROMO'S STYLE CHANGE WITH NEW CONTRACT?

• One of the concerns media execs keep voicing about Tony Romo’s new, huge salary -- upwards of $17 million per year -- is that he may find it harder to connect with viewers given his new income bracket. Romo became the league’s most popular analyst in just three short seasons, thanks, in large part, to a boyish enthusiasm and genuine excitement that came across the screen every time he called a game.
  
  
• For a glimpse at what Romo should expect this year, I called über agent Sandy Montag -- not to talk about Romo, but to talk about John Madden. Montag and the late Barry Frank negotiated Madden’s $8 million deal in 1994 -- a deal that stood as the highest for any NFL analyst until last week. Madden stood out from the analysts of the day with his ability to connect with viewers who were drawn to his everyman persona.
  
  
• Montag: “There was some concern over how John’s salary would affect how he was perceived. But he was not, and is not, the type of person to flaunt money.” Those concerns were unfounded. Madden stayed as popular after his big contract as he was before it. The key was that Madden’s personality was real and football audiences identified with him, Montag said. “He would ride his bus or take a train and stop in all of these small towns, and he really had a sense of what America was. When we were going through struggles and recessions, he was able to bring that to life on the broadcast.”
  
  
• Montag also credited Madden’s work ethic -- he was among the first TV analysts to attend team practices on a Friday before a Sunday game. He spent hours watching game film. “He had a preparation that was unmatched and never changed,” Montag said. “As he would tell you, the money didn’t change his wardrobe. It didn’t change where he ate. It didn’t change what he drove, because he drove a pickup truck. He stayed true to who he was as a coach. He viewed himself as a coach.”

BLEACHER REPORT CELEBRATING INT'L WOMEN'S DAY

• Bleacher Report has created an initiative around International Women’s Day, which is this Sunday. Starting tomorrow, B/R will begin a two-day celebration of women in the workplace to promote the “moving up and making space” agenda. B/R will broadcast a speech from AQR Capital Management Principal Jen Frost across its organizations, while Sandra Lopez (Intel), Jessica Berman (NLL) and Ashley Kahler (Nike), among others, will participate in an external panel on their leadership roles. B/R Chief Revenue Officer Stefanie Rapp told SBJ's Thomas Leary that the group will provide a “diverse look at culture within different organizations that, quite frankly, are typically dominated by male leaders.” B/R’s N.Y. office will have female-centric stories playing on a recurring content loop throughout the day on Friday. 
  
  
• The impetus for the effort started last year. Some female employees formed the B/R Women’s Network to “encourage women and advocates of women within the workplace … as well as provide advocacy for women when they’re not in rooms where decisions are being made,” Rapp said. Fast forward to 2020, and the group has grown to more than 150 members across the company. Membership includes senior leadership from B/R, Turner Sports and WarnerMedia. B/R CEO Howard Mittman sits in on some meetings, and the group has a designated budget from the company’s executive leadership. For Rapp, who was promoted to CRO in January, the initiative is just getting started. “We have people reaching out to us now to try to get involved. … It will absolutely grow.”

SPEED READS

• A move into primetime paid off for the NFL Scouting Combine audience on TV, according to SBJ's Austin Karp. NFL Network averaged 242,000 viewers for its four days of coverage last week, up 3% from 2019, when live coverage was primarily in the mornings. When coverage on ESPN and ABC is included this year, Combine viewership was up 11% from last year.
  
  
• ESPN launched a digital show this afternoon called "Banter with Taylor Twellman." The roughly 30-minute show, which will include commentary, interviews and opinion from the soccer analyst and Terp alum, will air Wednesdays at 2pm ET on the ESPN app, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. It’s overseen by ESPN Senior Director of Digital & Social Media Mike Foss. This week’s guests included MLS Digital's Matt Doyle, retired MLS player Michael Parkhurst and The Athletic’s Paul Tenorio.
  
  
• Hearty congratulations to Christine Brennan. The USA Today sports columnist will be honored with the APSE Red Smith Award this year. Brennan “received 100 points, based on a 5-3-1 system for first, second and third-place votes." Sally Jenkins was second with 93 points and Tom Boswell was third with 85.” Leon Carter and Bill Lyon round out the top five.
  
  
• Excel Sports Management VP Melissa Baron took SBD’s Andrew Levin through a day in the life of managing ABC’s Robin Roberts, which included plenty of time in the Delta Lounge and a 4:00am wakeup call.
  
  
• Entercom announced that Susan Larkin will be promoted to COO, effective May 5. She will succeeding Weezie Kramer, who is retiring from the COO role later this year after nearly 20 years with the company.
  
  
• CBS Exec VP/Communications Kelli Raftery -- the daughter of legendary college basketball analyst Bill Raftery -- will leave the network next month after a 20-year run. “I will say my final CBS goodbye on a day that feels perfectly fitting for me ... In the crowd at the NCAA Men’s National Basketball Championship on Monday, April 6, with many of my co-workers, friends and family in attendance and my dad on the game call,” she wrote in an email to colleagues. She signed off her email with a familiar line: “As the wisest (and funniest) man I know says often this time of year ... With a Kiss, Kelli Raf.” Earlier this week, CBS Chief Communications Officer Dana McClintock said he was leaving the network in June.

Kelli Raftery, pictured here with parents Bill and Joan, will be leaving CBS communications

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Enjoying this newsletter? We've got more! Check out SBJ College with Michael Smith on Tuesdays and Thursdays for insights into all the latest news around the world of college sports. Also check out SBJ Football with Ben Fischer on Friday afternoons.

Something on the Media beat catch your eye? Tell us about it. Reach out to either me (jourand@sportsbusinessjournal.com) or Austin Karp (akarp@sportsbusinessjournal.com) and we'll share the best of it. Also contributing to this newsletter is Thomas Leary (tleary@sportsbusinessdaily.com).