The mailman delivers: George Bodenheimer, a quiet innovator who rose from the mailroom to president of ESPN, gets our stamp as the most powerful man in sports

Sporting News, The, Jan 12, 2004 by Stuart Miller

A wide shot: elegant Mice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in Manhattan. Advertising big shots, journalists and guest panelists such as NBA legend Bill Russell arrive for the third annual ESPN up-front presentation, at which the network celebrates with, and sells itself to, media buyers and opinion makers.

Zoom in: downstairs, into the greenroom, behind that dosed door. There, in a restroom, John Saunders, Bob Ley and Chris Berman chat, talk sports and briefly relax. Most ESPN viewers--and aren't we all, at some point, ESPN viewers?--would love to eavesdrop here. But for anyone interested in truly understanding ESPN, the most compelling conversation in the building is back in the greenroom. Scan past Charlotte Bobcats owner Robert Johnson and advertising guru Dan Weiden to those chairs against the wall where a man discusses sotto voce the future of television with Stephen Burke, president of Comcast, the leading cable operator in the country.

Meet ESPN president George Bodenheimer, the most powerful person in the room, the building and, by the SPORTING NEWS' measure, in all of sports for 2003: No. 1 in the Power 100, our annual ranking of sports industry heavyweights.

Unlike a certain other George whom TSN ranked numero uno last year, Bodenheimer doesn't constantly remind you that he's the boss. In fact, his power style is the polar opposite of George Steinbrenner's. Bodenheimer, who was ranked fourth last year, doesn't dominate a room--he can be so soft-spoken that his conversations can't be heard 2 feet away. Ask ESPN senior vice president for consumer communication Chris LaPlaca for a Bodenheimer press kit, and he'll confess that there isn't one because Bodenheimer is oft-quoted on business matters but rarely profiled. Spend an hour in Bodenheimer's modestly decorated office, and he'll flood you with quotes reflecting ah unstinting"we, not me" attitude.

But don't underestimate Bodenheimer, who started at ESPN in 1981 by driving mail around the Bristol, Conn., complex and picking up tapes and talent at the airport. Beneath his nice-guy smile and sense of humor, says senior vice president John Walsh, is someone "who can be demanding and make tough decisions, someone who understands that everything doesn't go the way you hoped it would." He is, senior V.P. Lee Ann Daly says, extremely thorough, doesn't assume he knows everything and never leaves a meeting until he "understands it all."

Says NBA commissioner David Stern, himself a former No. 1 in the Power 100: "He's a good manager who understands the evolution and history of his company as well as any CEO in the country."

Bodenheimer, who took that first job in Bristol after being rejected by every major league baseball team and Madison Square Garden, got promoted to affiliate sales when he was the only staffer willing to more to Texas. He moved up the ESPN ladder, adding affiliate marketing and then all sales and marketing before becoming president in 1998.

Bodenheimer's low-profile style has worked well, as has his push to make sure ESPN is an innovative risk taker both on screen and off. "He respects the traditions of ESPN but is fearless about moving forward, which he has made a mandate of his regime," says Walsh.

Bodenheimer's relentless multiplatform brand-building has made ESPN the lifeline of the American sports fan more than ever, reportedly reaching 90 million fans a week. Bodenheimer gained our top spot by continually extending ESPN's reach in ways large and small.

"George has coalesced his power," says Marc Ganis, president of the consulting firm Sports Corp., "and he has growing influence within the TV--and especially the cable--world."

In October 2002, ESPN became the first network with simultaneous contracts to televise all four major professional sports: the NBA, NHL, NFL and major league baseball. From August to March, its programming schedule is dotted with major-college football and basketball. In 2003, it added Wimbledon tennis, doubled its coverage of the NCAA women's basketball tournament and returned to televising baseball's playoffs. ESPN's original programming continues to develop, ranging from the controversial NFL-based drama Playmakers (more on that later) to ESPN2's new morning show, Cold Pizza.

ESPN scored its most-viewed quarter in network history from July to September, followed by single-month ratings records in October for both ESPN and ESPN2. (The ratings boost was aided by outside factors--Boston and Chicago in baseball's playoffs and the LeBron James circus--that may not be replicated next year.) In November, a Cowboys-Patriots Sunday night game drew the third-biggest ESPN audience ever and the fifth-biggest in basic-cable history. ESPN won nine sports Emmys in 2003, its most since 1996. ESPN: The Magazine is approaching 2 million circulation and won a National Magazine Award for General Excellence. ESPN.com keeps breaking its own records as the Internet's most-trafficked sports website, scoring 16.7 million unique users in October.

But Bodenheimer's dynamic business plan manifests itself in many ways that are less obvious. "Technological excellence and leadership are as important to the future growth of ESPN and our brand as the product we put on the air," he says. In 2003, the company introduced ESPN Pay-Per-View; ESPN Motion, a newly enhanced video technology now employed on its website, and ESPN HD, a 24/7 high-definition simulcast service that industry insiders credit with helping jump-start sluggish HDTV sales.