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out, Bodenheimer's in
ESPN chief's big challenge: Get the Olympics
Responsibility for both ESPN and ABC Sports will once again be in the hands of one person when Howard Katz steps down as president of ABC Sports at the end of next week.
ESPN President George Bodenheimer will assume Katz's duties. ABC Television president Alex Wallau said yesterday that consolidating control of ABC Sports and ESPN will improve the two networks' ability to acquire sports rights.
The first test of that will come in June, when bidding begins on cable and broadcast rights to the 2010 (winter) and 2012 (summer) Olympic games.
Katz joined ESPN in 1993 and was named president of ABC Sports in 1999. His successes include bringing John Madden to "Monday Night Football" and securing or extending the television rights to the NBA, the PGA Tour, the British Open, the Indianapolis 500 and the college football Bowl Championship Series.
Without going into detail, he has said that he had grown unhappy in his job. "I haven't been happy. It hasn't worked out the way I wanted it to," he told The New York Times. "This wasn't the right fit."
That has lent weight to rumors, which ABC has denied, of friction between Katz and Wallau.
Speculation now has Katz joining the NFL Channel, which is headed by Steve Bornstein, former ABC Television president.
Bornstein, who exited last May, was Katz's predecessor as ABC Sports president and also ran ESPN. His tenure as ABC Television president unfortunately coincided with high-profile flops like "Bob Patterson" and "Thieves" and the rapid decline of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" as a ratings generator.
Bodenheimer has spent 22 years at ESPN, serving as president since 1998. He has been credited with playing a key role in landing last year's six-year rights deal with the NBA.
March 4, 2003© 2003 Media Life
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