When Mark Shapiro was running ESPN, news was still the network’s main attraction. SportsCenter was as iconic as any brand on television, and if you were one of the show’s standout hosts, you were a household name amongst sports fans.
In a recent appearance on Richard Deitsch’s podcast, Shapiro, who is now the President and COO of Endeavor, said that in that era of SportsCenter, hosts like Dan Patrick and Keith Olbermann were the network’s highest-paid talent. It was the result of doing the most shows and having the most name recognition. He added that those distinctions eventually went to people like Stuart Scott, Rich Eisen, Kenny Mayne and others.
In 2023 though, becoming a star through SportsCenter is not easy.
“I think if you go into most focus groups, and there’s no slam at any SportsCenter anchors because there’s so many good ones, but there’s a lot of them and there’s not a lot of name recognition,” Shapiro told Deitsch.
Not easy does not mean impossible though. Mark Shapiro says that SportsCenter still has one megastar host and the network knows it. That’s why they put him on in the iconic 11 PM slot every night.
“Scott Van Pelt should be getting paid a lot of money. I don’t know exactly what his deal is. Whatever it is, I guarantee you he’s underpaid.”
Shapiro acknowledged that the economics of the sports media are changing. There was a time when SportsCenter anchors with a certain level of name recognition and a history with the company could expect to make in the low seven figures. Now, ESPN values personality. Research has shown that is what audiences respond to and Shapiro says it is the only path a talent can take and expect to make real money.
He is impressed that Scott Van Pelt has found a way to thread that needle.
“He’s entertaining. He’s a personality,” Shapiro said. “He’s got a point of view, terrific commentaries, great writer, but he’s also a personality, right? I mean, that’s what he is, and he gives them the consistency that they desire. So, you can still get paid if you’re in that vein. That’s a true unicorn.”