Dick Ebersol Leaving as Head of NBC Sports
May 19, 2011
by Robyn Ross


Dick Ebersol is leaving NBC, The New York Times reports.

Ebersol, who has run NBC Sports since 1989, resigned after he and the network couldn't agree on a new contract, the Times said, adding that his departure provoked speculation that he didn't get along with his new bosses at Comcast.




Earlier this year, Comcast, which took over NBC Universal, named the longtime executive to run the NBC Sports group, comprised of NBC Sports, the Golf Channel, Versus and Comcast's regional sports networks.

Under his supervision, NBC lost $223 million on the 2010 Olympics.




The Times says Mark Lazarus, the head of NBC Sports Cable, will be Ebersol's replacement.

http://www.tvguide.com/News/Dick-Ebersol-Leaving-NBC-1033301.aspx

http://fangsbites.com/2011/05/thoughts-on-dick-ebersols-tenure-at-nbc-sports/

Throughout his 22 year tenure as NBC Sports President and then later, Chairman of the division, Ebersol has had all four major sports airing at the network as well as the Olympics, golf, NASCAR, Notre Dame Football, horse racing’s Triple Crown, the French Open and Wimbledon. Some of his successes include Sunday Night Football, the NBA on NBC, the NHL, the Olympics and horse racing.

His misses have been big including the XFL and Arena Football. He also allowed college basketball to leave which until his tenure was a big part of NBC Sports.

Some of his philosophies producing the Olympics have been controversial. The well-known policy of holding events for primetime and tape delays have been criticized in this blog ad nauseum. However, the International Olympic Committee liked his presentation and was solidly in his corner.

Ebersol was a prolific producer of programming before joining NBC Sports in 1989. He headed up Saturday Night Live in the early to mid-1980′s, also Saturday Night’s Main Event with the WWF, Friday Night Videos and also Later with Bob Costas.

His love for the Olympics began as a researcher for ABC Sports when he worked in Mexico City in 1968 and learned under the tutelage of legendary Executive Producer Roone Arledge. He stayed with ABC throughout the 1970′s.

As the leader of NBC Sports, Ebersol took the art of storytelling from ABC and took it to a higher level especially during the Olympics.

He also brought strong personalities to the booth like John McEnroe, Johnny Miller, Cris Collinsworth and Mary Carillo. Some of his hires didn’t work too well like Bill Walsh and Isiah Thomas.

Under his watch, Ebersol had to let go of Marv Albert during his personal troubles, but brought him back in time for him to call the 2001 and 2002 NBA Finals. Also during his time, Ebersol allowed Bob Costas to flourish, saw potential in a young Mike Breen, gave Tom Hammond a substantial role in horse racing, the Olympics and Notre Dame football.

A 22 year tenure as the leader of a sports division in this day and age is quite amazing. Ebersol can either retire or join the network other than NBC that gets the Olympics for 2014/16. His track record can be described as a success. However, with the new ownership of Comcast coming in, reports have started to surface that Ebersol left over his contract and that he did not want to be nickled and dimed over his stewardship. Whatever the reason, it leaves big shoes at the top of NBC Sports, shoes that incoming Chairman Mark Lazarus will have a hard time filling.

Good. I'm glad he's leaving. He bad mothed Conan during the whole NBC/Leno/Conan debacle a while ago. I've disliked him ever since.

lorne michaels is proably dancing and doing cartwheels all over 30 rock today myself im still upset at him for letting the nba go elsewhere

Things that I can't help but fault Dick Ebersol over during his tenure overseeing NBC Sports:
*The dated process of airing taped delayed Olympic broadcasts even when they took place in North America (i.e. 1996 in Atlanta, 2002 in Salt Lake, and 2010 in Vancouver). Also, Ebersol felt (taking things a step further perhaps from his mentor Roone Arledge) that the Olympic coverage had to be like a soap opera.

*Being slow and reluctant to adapt the the now modern technological practices of networks using on screen digital scoring boards.

*The 1992 Summer Olympic PPV Triplecast.

*The 1994-95 Major League Baseball Network joint venture, which regionally broadcast the first two rounds of the playoffs at the same time.

*Letting the NFL, Major League Baseball, and NBA go in 1997, 2000, and 2001-02 respectively (while at the same token, overpaying for the Olympics). NBC under GE and Ebersol pretty much employed a "buy low, sell high" mentality in regards to their sports acquisitions. Ebersol also seemed to lose faith in MLB and the NBA when the strike hit in 1994 and Michael Jordan retired for the second time (in 1998).

*The XFL (of course, you can't do a list like this without bringing this up).