THE RUNDOWN
In “The Main Event with Andrew Marchand,” Marchand spoke with the President and COO of Endeavor and TKO, Mark Shapiro. Shapiro first rose to prominence as the head of production and programming with ESPN at age 32. Today, he is a leader for one of the most important companies in all of sports and entertainment. Here is what Marchand and Shapiro discussed.
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* Shapiro on his childhood and the influence of his mom working at Time.
* How the heck did he run programming and production at ESPN by the time he was 32?
* How Mike Lupica was offered to co-host PTI after Tony Kornheiser first said no.
* How NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue suggested to Disney’s Michael Eisner it might be smart to cancel “Playmakers.”
* At 31, how Shapiro almost became the head of ABC Entertainment in a secret meeting with Eisner and Bob Iger at Hamburger Hamlet
* Why didn’t ESPN just keep Al Michaels and John Madden when it took over Monday Night Football?
* Shapiro’s plan to put Al Michaels, Joe Theismann and Troy Aikman as ESPN’s new MNF team
* Shapiro offering Aikman $4M to move from Fox to join ESPN’s MNF.
* How did the WWE end up with Netflix for $5.2 billion and 10 years.
* How does Shapiro look at upcoming UFC deal
* What did Shapiro think of the NBA TV deals
* How Disney could have kept NBC out of Sundays.
* How Shapiro thought Tony Romo’s $180 million deal was a bad one.
* What is Stephen A. Smith’s value with his contract up soon
* What does Shapiro think of Venu Sports and ESPN’s direct to consumer plans.
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