First off, how did you get your start in media operations- what interested you?
I started off in regional sports TV. I went to UCLA and Jerry Buss and Bill Daniels had just launched the Prime Ticket Regional Network in California. They covered the Lakers, Kings, Angels, USC and UCLA…. My uncle worked for them and he got me a job there as a runner. It wasn’t what I ever intended on doing. I was a business major and had no idea what I wanted to do then. I was there for 10 years – I was blessed with the opportunity – it spawned a 40-year career.
What did you learn over that time?
We only had six people in the office then. I was pulling cable during games and worked on graphics and audio too. I did a little producing – the growth was really in remote production.
Over time I oversaw the remote production. That was when the Lakers were the Showtime Lakers and in ’92 the Kings traded for Wayne Gretzky, then Anaheim was launched as a new NHL expansion team.
So you started working more on hockey?
Gary Bettman had just come on as the new NHL commissioner and he saw a lot of untapped opportunity. I was always told hockey was so much better as an in-person sport to watch versus TV. I took that as a challenge. I was given the opportunity to oversee the NHL coverage – I helped develop the broadcast infrastructure for Anaheim and traveled with the Kings during the Stanley Cup run. I learned a lot about the team and players doing that – what made them tick.
Later I became the Director of Remote Production and learned a ton. It was a ton of experience dealing with people and production. I was in the office working on budgets and management, working with on-air talent and in the field with the live production crew. I liked to think of myself as a truck rat mostly!
You got hired by the NHL afterwards?
Glenn Adamo was hired by Bettman and people we both knew suggested we talk. We were very forward thinking at Prime – we used a lot of robotic cameras – we were the first to do the cameras behind the goal. We pioneered their usage. Glenn called me and we talked for an hour and shared ideas. When the Kings made the finals Glenn came out as part of the NHL crew and we met in person. He talked about his staff and asked for feedback – they were really stuck in neutral then. At the end of the conversation he told me he was going to hire me someday. I just thought “Yeah, right.” But sure enough in ’95 he called and said “Are you ready?” I said “For what?” And he told me then he had a job for me.
What was it?
Three months later I moved to New York – that was scary and exciting as a California guy. I was brought in as the Manager of Broadcasting and worked in the NHL for 16 years. During that time Glenn moved to the NFL and I was promoted to VP of Broadcasting & Production.
I helped consult on 15 new arenas – influencing their broadcasting infrastructure. I also launched the glowing puck initiative which we used for four seasons until Fox lost the contract.
How did the glowing puck work and what went wrong with it?
Getting buy-in from teams and players was tough. It wasn’t “pure”. We were manipulating the puck. You had to cut the puck in half and insert a chip. A frozen puck has certain qualities and a chip warms up over time and that changes the puck’s qualities. That affected the players and the on-ice play. We also only used it in national broadcasts so it was like a foreign object to players when we used it.
The goal was to make the game more interesting to a broader number of TV fans. The U.S. fans liked it but the Canadians didn’t. And most of the commentators were former players and they ridiculed it. So it was an interesting time.
Did you work closely with the Penguins over that time?
I did. I was at the draft when they took Crosby and got to know Tom McMillan and Mario Lemieux. Mario was always kind and generous and gentlemanly. He always took time to talk to me when he saw me. He had just taken an ownership interest and wanted to be more forward-thinking. They were building the new arena – the Igloo was an old barn. They wanted the new arena to be a premier arena from a broadcasting and fan perspective.
One of the big things was breaking up the simulcast. Mike Lange and Stan Savran were great but TV and radio are very different. Radio you have to describe everything, where TV relies more on the analytical talk. It’s challenging when people are used to doing things a certain way for so long. Play-by-play guys like to talk and its hard to teach them to take breaks so the analysts can talk. We worked with them to give them feedback on their performance and to help them evolve their broadcast. That was a big piece of what Mario wanted.
What else mattered to them?
The Capitals also had drafted Ovi a year before – Ovi and Sid were the faces of the NHL. The demands on their time were enormous. They weren’t sustainable. We had to put in protocols and rules in place for how many interviews players had to do over a set period of time. We worked on developing a schedule with the NHL. There were so many broadcasting teams for every game – unlike other sports nationally broadcasted games could still have local broadcasters. For Canadian teams that also meant English and French Canadian broadcasting teams – so you could have four broadcasting groups per game. That can create chaos – especially in a smaller building like the Igloo. And they’d want to bring in their own cameras which killed seating – that wasn’t fair to ticket-holders. So we mapped that all out with Tom.
Were there other innovations you brought to the game?
The ’05 season was the lockout season – that gave us the chance to look at the aspects of the entire sport – from marketing to sales to the rules. We looked to make it all better.
We wrote a policy for player and coach access that’s still in use today. We looked at what NFL Films was doing – they were the North Star. We looked at how they mic’d up players. We looked at NASCAR and how they had in-car cameras and allowed conversations between the drivers and pit crew. The fans loved that. We analyzed every sport and worked with NHL Operations for buy-in on new ideas.
We saw how the NFL mic’d referees for announcing penalties. We did that for the NHL – if you didn’t know what the hand signals meant you wouldn’t know what was going on. We also mic’d players and interviewed coaches on the bench between periods. And we created the space between benches for the analysts to work. I led that.
Why did you go the NFL after the NHL?
In 2011 Glenn hired me – he went to the NFL earlier. I was ready for a new challenge. We had great success in the NHL. We improved ratings and got a number of international games. I was grateful to be a part of that.
ESPN was the 800-pound gorilla though. When they got the rights to the NHL they promoted the NBA and barely promoted the NHL. When they did promote the NHL they showed fight highlights, and we were trying to change the perception of the NHL away from that to increase our fanbase.
The commissioner and I went to ESPN – to Connecticut – with detailed analysis by the second of ESPN’s coverage of the NHL versus the NBA. We wanted to create personalities but ESPN had a different idea.
Also – every team had their own idea of how to market their team and NHL. The Flyers were the Broadstreet Bullies. They all did production differently and brought their own analysis. The Flyers for example didn’t want their broadcast team promoting Crosby when he was playing the Flyers – they wanted to grow their own fanbase but didn’t think that growing the fanbase of the league would help them grow their own fanbase. We wanted Flyers fans to watch the Stanley Cup even if it was the Penguins and not the Flyers in it. So that was all frustrating.
So, the NFL was a bigger opportunity. There’s no bigger prize than the NFL. I started off doing Thursday Night Football and later became the Senior Director of Media Operations.
How did you became a Steelers fan?
My fandom of Pittsburgh started because my dad grew up in Pittsburgh. He went to North Hills High School and worked at the West View Amusement Park that was there when he was a kid.
He went to Penn State then moved to California and married my mom. I was a child of the 70s – so every Sunday we watched the Steelers. I was born, bred and brainwashed to be a Steelers fan! And Pirates fan – though I don’t watch baseball now.
I watched two World Series and four Super Bowl wins. In ’79 I remember when the Steelers and Pirates both won – I was in high school then.
Now I’m excited to have two sons who bleed Black & Gold as well. I’ve had the same influence on them as my dad had on me. It’s been fun!
I wanted to talk to you about the NFL Draft and all the work you’ve done on that. How did your work begin in making the draft what it is today?
It was still at Radio City Music Hall in New York when I started. By today’s comparison it was small but it was still larger than the other leagues’ drafts.
In 2015 the league decided to take the draft on the road like they did with the Super Bowl. It was in Chicago the first year – we didn’t know what it would be. We wanted it to be an outdoor festival. At the end of the day it’s a business meeting for the NFL – they are drafting their future.
Events and production worked hand-in-hand – we wanted an experience like the Super Bowl – and experience like an NFL Disneyland. We had fan experiences – games, locker rooms, autograph signings and activities like you have at the combine. We partnered with C3 events – they produced Lollapalooza – and used Grant Park. We created a communal experience and helped design the sets. There were a lot more cameras now. We picked Chicago because of its central locations and had over 200,000 people there. It was magical.
And it grew from there…
We went to Philly after that -and then Nashville which really elevated the draft. Broadway Street was massive with fans. Detroit was my last draft – we had 800,000 people there. The draft has become a destination event for fans – a way to celebrate the game and for us to provide innovative camera angles and the use of robotics.
What changes/interesting ideas do you expect to see for the draft in Pittsburgh and for years afterwards?
I’m not working on it now, but Yinzers will come out for sure. It’ll be an unbelievable experience. The number of Steelers jerseys outnumbered every other team jersey except the home team’s every draft. Pittsburgh will be an incredible host. Most of it will be at Acrisure Stadium but some will be at Point State Park as well. The fanbase will celebrate as it has for so many years.
I don’t know if a lot will change. I think the biggest thing is bringing fans closer to the players. I think fans will be able to interact with players more. The NFL has embraced that connection.
Any memories stand out most for you over the years?
What stands out most are the people I was fortunate enough to work with. They brought unique ideas and perspectives. And the comradery – we were a team – I learned how important every person is from the cable runner to the executives who make the decisions. Without each person it all falls apart.
And one that really stands out. I remember the Immaculate Reception – I remember being in my family’s living room watching the game in ’72 when Franco caught the ball.
Fast forward to three years ago when the Steelers celebrated the 50-year anniversary of the reception. I went to Pittsburgh to work on the event a week beforehand. Every time I’d go to Pittsburgh I’d text my kids a picture of Franco’s statue in the airport. It was just a thing I did every time I went. Well, I remember sending my kids the picture Tuesday – and when I woke up the next day I heard that Franco had passed. To be in that stadium and on the field during that week and on the day of the celebration – that was surreal. Being on the field as they honored Franco – the chills and tears that day. I’ll never forget that.