E-VP Shapiro leaving ESPN

[Dryden]

This has finally been made official by the network, Mark Shapiro is leaving ESPN to take over Dan Snyder's entertainment empire (Six Flags Amusement Parks, Washington Redskins, etc ...). Rumors about this began circulating a week ago, but the announcement has been made today.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2137232

Shapiro leaving ESPN to lead Red Zone, LLC

Mark Shapiro, ESPN executive vice president of programming and production, will leave Oct. 1 to become CEO of Red Zone, LLC, a private investment company focused on entertainment properties, founded by Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder.

"Mark has made many significant contributions to ESPN's growth during his 12-year tenure and we have benefited greatly from his talent and creativity," said George Bodenheimer, president of ESPN and ABC Sports, and co-chairman of Disney Media Networks.

Shapiro joined ESPN as a production assistant in 1993 for ESPN2's Talk2. He served as coordinating producer for ESPN's Peabody-Award winning SportsCentury from 1997-99 and then, as general manager, led ESPN Classic through an expansive growth period.

In 2001, he became senior vice president and general manager, programming for all of ESPN and was named to his current position in 2002. Since then, he has played a pivotal role in establishing ESPN Original Entertainment, achieving consistent ratings growth and helping to lead several successful rights negotiations.

I don't think I need to explain to anyone who has seen the quality coverage provided to the OSU program the significance of Shapiro's (an Iowa grad, no less) departure. A candidate for his replacement could be Vince Doria, an Ohio State grad.

 

[Golferdow01]

Good riddens Mark! Go turn another company to scUM

 

[ntd]

Sounds to me like he has worked mostly with ESPN Original entertainment, which frankly is a huge waste of airtime... I seriously doubt whether this will do anything about any perceived anti-OSU bias...it's not like Mark May or Trev are leaving, and those seem to be the biggest wastes of time outside of the ESPN the magazine

 

[BB73]

I don't think he's responsible for anti-tOSU bias, but he's got to get credit for a lot of the 'Entertainment' crap that ESPN has been spewing out the last dew years.

 

[ntd]

I don't think he's responsible for anti-tOSU bias, but he's got to get credit for a lot of the 'Entertainment' crap that ESPN has been spewing out the last dew years.

You mean you don't like ESPN Hollywood?

 

[Dryden]

I don't think he's responsible for anti-tOSU bias, but he's got to get credit for a lot of the 'Entertainment' crap that ESPN has been spewing out the last dew years.

Maybe not the anti-OSU perception, but Shapiro was definately the voice in defense of ESPN when Geiger decided to meet the network head-on. There was no love lost between the two, and I think that was probably more significant in the airing and cross-promotion of these stories for months upon months, rather than some of these things going away quietly.

Shapiro definately put the 'Entertainment' at the beginning of Entertainment and Sports Programming Network when he took over in 2001. I cannot argue that he was successful though. ESPN has enjoyed growth for 10 consecutive quarters.

 

[Brutus1]

Season on the brink- bad
Junction boys- ok
3 - pathetic. you could not turn on an ESPN channel w/o seeing an ad for that movie.

Tilt- bad
Playmakers- pretty good, so it was yanked. NFL pressure I guess.

That "win a job as an anchor" show was also garbage.
ESPN Hollywood- pitiful.

I really, really despise Cold Pizza.

The last best thing they had was ESPN News, and they ruined that by showing "Mike and Mike" in the morning. Who the heck wants to watch a radio talk show on tv?

Another problem I have is , did you ever notice that they don't show boxscores anymore on Sportscenter? They show only 2 or 3 players from each team.

Things I like about ESPN: Thursday night College Football is great, even if it's usually the Big East or Conf USA.

I also like their camera coverage on Sunday night football.

I love pretty women as much as the next guy, but to have mostly all sideline reports being women for football coverage, is too much.

 

[AKAK]

Tell you what...

This guy seems like a scum ball to me...

HOWEVER...

He has a chance at redemption.

And that chance is this...

If he gets rid of the creepy dancing fake old dude with that annoying fucking song that is the focus of the six flags commercials... all will be forgiven... I HATE that freaking dude.

This guy: