Those Guys Have All the Fun - James Andrew Miller [293]
And then pop! went the balloon, or at least the “ssss” of a slow leak. The NFL announced that its chief negotiator would be none other than former ESPN president (and briefly ABC president) Steve Bornstein, who in his new job as the NFL’s executive vice president of media would be making all critical TV decisions for the team owners. That meant Bornstein would be the driving force behind which properties and packages went where, and he was hardly considered a disinterested party.
In Bristol, some thought having Bornstein across the table would be the ultimate home-court advantage. After all, Bornstein had helped build the place, had handpicked George Bodenheimer as his successor, had mentored Mark Shapiro, and could claim many other friends at the network. But others at ESPN were far less sanguine. Bornstein was anything but the sentimental sort, and the four years that had passed since he was bounced from his executive post at ABC had done little if anything to mute his anger and resentment toward Michael Eisner and Bob Iger, the men who had forced him out.
For many, it looked as though Bornstein finally had at his disposal the perfect vehicle for revenge. The question at hand: Would his desire to strike back at Iger and Eisner trump whatever affection and loyalty he still felt for his dear old alma mater, ESPN?
BILL CREASY:
Iger had won. It was Iger versus Steve, and Eisner picked Iger. Steve was smart enough to know that he would be accused of running a hard deal against ESPN because of his history with Eisner and Iger. The other side of that coin was that he would go out of his way to make a deal so that he wouldn’t be accused of that sort of heavy bullshit. He was in a tough position.
BOB IGER:
It is not unusual for negotiations of this magnitude to become difficult, and it is common for a certain level of frustration to arise at different stages. No one is totally immune from the ebb and flow of deals that big. That said, business never becomes personal for me. The NFL deal was always just business. It may have been personal for others, but I can assure you, it never became that way for me. As the steward of a multibillion-dollar company, allowing personal emotions to enter the equation would be a huge mistake.
STEVE BORNSTEIN:
Have you ever had a colonoscopy? Negotiation is similar to that. I have been involved in five different contracts for television rights from the NFL. The first four, I was on the ESPN side of the table, and then the fifth one, I was on the NFL side. The first one that we did at $53 million was an incredibly expensive deal for ESPN at that time, as was the second at $108 million. The third, $135 million, represented a more modest increase—still a big chunk for us. But the fourth deal, the one that I did at $600 million a year, was a career maker or breaker for me personally. It worked out, but each one was a very, very pricey deal. Each one took your breath away.
GEORGE BODENHEIMER:
To me, NFL negotiations at this level are purely business. There are billions of dollars flowing. I grew up negotiating in the company—not for programming but for carriage and license fees, so I can tell you that while some of those negotiations can be tension-filled, they can also be fun, and you can derive a tremendous amount of satisfaction from them. I personally enjoy them. I would say they are exhilarating.
CHRISTINE DRIESSEN:
The way we work is fairly collegial at ESPN.