A new executive structure is coming to Main Street Sports Group, the parent company of the FanDuel Sports Networks.
Norby Williamson, the former ESPN production executive that was tapped to lead production for FanDuel Sports Networks following Main Street’s emergence from bankruptcy, has hired four ex-ESPN producers to lead the regional sports networks, per a report from Front Office Sports. About 10 regional network executive producers were let go as part of Williamson’s restructuring.
The four former ESPNers joining Williamson are Larry Holm, Jay Rothman, Ed Placey, and Mark Summer.
According to FOS, the FanDuel Sports Networks had previously been organized into verticals by region, but will now be structured “horizontally” by sport.
Brett Opdyke, who had been an executive producer at FanDuel Sports Network Florida, and Holm will lead NBA coverage. Rothman will be the point person on NHL. Placey will lead MLB coverage for the networks. And Summer will oversee studio production, including pregame and postgame shows, across the FanDuel Sports Networks.
“We’re reinventing the business and the way we do production and technology,” Williamson told FOS. “We’ve got four Hall of Famers who were chomping at the bit to join us.
“The goal here is to be able to position the company to take advantage of technology, reinvent how we produce the games,” Williamson said.
The restructure, while likely partly due to cost-cutting associated with the recent bankruptcy, certainly makes sense on paper. Rather than having individual networks or regions organize production for several sports themselves, organizing by sport should allow the company to share sport-specific best practices across networks seamlessly. For a company like Main Street, which produces a huge tonnage of games, that seems like a wise decision.
“We have 3,000 MLB, NBA, and NHL games. No one has that scope and no one has that reach. So the opportunity to experiment, innovate and be more creative is what attracted me to come here—and what attracted those guys to come here,” Williamson said of the changes.
While Williamson’s time in Bristol likely wore thin by the end of his tenure, he brings nearly four decades of sports media experience to the table, having started his career at ESPN in 1985. Clearly, some of his former underlings were more than willing to jump on board with Norby Williamson’s new vision for Main Street.
It’ll be worth keeping a close eye on how FanDuel Sports Networks’ production changes going forward.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.