2024 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Mark Lazarus, a Paragon of Sports-Media Excellence By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S.
Wednesday, December 11, 2024 - 3:27 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Leading up to the 2024 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame ceremony on Dec. 17 at the New York Hilton, SVG is profiling the 10 inductees in this year's class. For more information, CLICK HERE.
There aren't many universal truths in the sports business, but here's one for you. You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone more respected and trusted and well-liked than Mark Lazarus.
NBC Sports lead announcer Mike Tirico puts it this way: Mark has a really great way of making you feel very important, very significant. That's the quality of a special leader, and that's what Mark is.
During more than three decades in sports media, he has helped shepherd the industry through the changing media landscape as well as being a key player in landmark sports-rights deals as president of sports at two major media companies: Turner Broadcasting and NBCUniversal.
I've met many commissioners and owners of teams, and there's one commonality: everybody loves Mark, says Brian Roberts, chairman/CEO, Comcast. I think Mark is one of those people who let other people give their ideas, show their passion, and thrive under his leadership.
Growing Up: Sports Media Runs Deep in the Lazarus Gene Pool Born on a U.S. Army base in Germany when his father was in the service, Lazarus grew up in a media-minded household in New York City. His father, John, was VP of marketing and sales at ABC Sports during the glory days under Roone Arledge.
The media tradition dates even further back in the Lazarus family. In addition to two uncles who worked in Hollywood, Lazarus's grandfather, Paul, worked in advertising and publicity for Warner Bros. and headed the advertising-publicity department for United Artists. In addition, Lazarus's brothers Peter and Craig are, respectively, EVP of sales for NBC Sports and VP/executive producer of original content and features for ESPN.
My brothers and I always had an interest in media. How could we not growing up in that household? Lazarus recounts. We all looked up to and respected my dad - and continue to today. I learned a lot about the business just looking at how he conducted himself.
While studying political science at Vanderbilt University, he spent his summers learning the business as a vacation relief engineer at ABC. After a year pulling cable for golf, he worked as a boom mic operator on All My Children, a utility on Ryan's Hope, and a camera op for WABC-TV New York's Eyewitness News.
His first job after graduating from college was in the media department at an ad agency, where he learned the nuts and bolts of buying and selling media. After three years there and a short stint as a sales manager for Cablevision and NBC's fledgling SportsChannel joint venture, Lazarus joined Turner Sports in 1990.
Turner Sports on the Rise: Building a Sports-Media Empire in Atlanta One of the original members of Turner's sports-specific sales team, Lazarus served a variety of roles over the next nine years before being named president of Turner Sports in 1999. During his four years in the role, he played an integral role in recruiting one of the most iconic sports-media personalities of all time for Inside the NBA.
When we had our first meeting, says Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, I said, I understand our job is to talk about sports, but I want to be able to talk about social issues, too.' He said, Pick the fights that you want to fight.' Him having faith and trust in me really helped me. And I consider him my friend to this day.
In 2003, Lazarus was named president of Turner Entertainment Group, continuing to oversee the company's sports business while also overseeing advertising sales, TBS, TNT, TCM, and truTV, as well as the Turner Animation, Young Adults, & Kids Media unit, including Cartoon Network, Cartoon Network Studios, Adult Swim, and Boomerang.
At Turner, he spearheaded a multitude of major rights deals, including renewing NBA on TNT multiple times and adding Major League Baseball, NASCAR, Wimbledon, and the Open Championship to the company's portfolio. Lazarus also held onto the PGA Championship and expanded TBS's Atlanta Braves coverage nationally.
Cable was a major disruptor of the media landscape in those days, especially sports, where we were vying for high-profile rights, he notes. Between sports and the original programming we launched on the entertainment side, we significantly added to subscriber value and changed the way advertisers looked at us. At the same time, I think, we built a great culture of people that loved working at Turner.
Lazarus left Turner in 2008 and spent two years as president of media and marketing at CSE (Career Sports & Entertainment). Along with company founder Lonnie Cooper, he helped launch a variety of new ventures, including Bounce TV, and advised on major deals, such as NASCAR's rights agreements with NBC Sports and FOX Sports.
Mark has closed so many deals that, in this business, everyone universally respects him, says Greg Hughes, EVP, communications, NBC Sports Group, who arrived at Turner Sports the same year as Lazarus and later joined him at the Peacock.
The Peacock Calls: Lazarus Heads to NBC Sports and Keeps Olympic Torch Ablaze In late 2010, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer Dick Ebersol, then-chairman, NBC Sports, recruited Lazarus to run the cable assets being added to the group as a result of Comcast's buying NBCUniversal, including Versus (later NBC Sports Network), Golf Channel, and NBC Regional Sports Networks. Lazarus started in January 2011 and, when Ebersol abruptly left just four mo
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/07/2026
Broadcast Management Group (BMG) has announced the appointment of Kathy Samuels ...
01/07/2026
Shade has announced Custom Objects and Automations, a platform expansion releasing June 29, 2026, that adds database and workflow automation capabilities direct...
01/07/2026
FOR-A America has announced the addition of Jaz Wray and Fernando Cruz to its U.S. sales team. Both report to Ernie Leon, Senior VP and Head of Sales and Strate...
01/07/2026
NBC Sports will air all 15 MLB games nationally on Sunday, July 5, across NBC, P...
01/07/2026
Clear-Com has announced a wireless communications upgrade for Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune, deploying FreeSpeak II and FreeSpeak Icon systems across both prod...
01/07/2026
England's performance team will use Sony's STATSports APEX GPS tracking system to monitor player physical data in real time during FIFA World Cup 2026 m...
01/07/2026
Adder Technology has announced the appointment of Neil Hillier as Chief Executive Officer, effective July 1, 2026. Hillier succeeds Adrian Dickens, who transiti...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. has announced a strategic transaction creating two separate companies. The Production and Playout business will continue as Bitcentral, now own...
01/07/2026
DAZN has announced results from DAZN48, its creator initiative for the FIFA World Cup 2026. Launched in April 2026, the program received thousands of applicatio...
01/07/2026
Sarah Rose, VP, global services, Daktronics (NASDAQ: DAKT), will be inducted into the Information Display and Entertainment Association (IDEA) Hall of Fame at t...
01/07/2026
Gravity Media and the World Economic Forum's production team provided broadc...
01/07/2026
Insight Productions has announced the launch of Insight Storm, a 53-foot mobile broadcast unit built for esports production. The truck is built around a Ross Vi...
01/07/2026
ESPN has announced several content initiatives marking America's 250th anniversary, as part of The Walt Disney Company's Disney Celebrates America pro...
01/07/2026
Eleven production kits, REMI workflows, and cloud distribution bring 40 World Cu...
01/07/2026
The conference also discussed the opportunities offered an industry that is endu...
01/07/2026
The Mountain West Conference has announced the launch of MW , a direct-to-consumer streaming platform powered by Kiswe. The platform will carry live Mountain We...
01/07/2026
New AI Assistant, Multi-channel Audio, ARA2 improvements & more
Tracktion's DAW software has just received its latest major update, gaining a selection ...
01/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
01/07/2026
Exclusive run of limited-edition modelling pedals
Sweetwater and Andertons M...
01/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce that the ca...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Manfrotto Introduces UNCOVER, the new premium camera bag collection for modern h...
01/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Powers Houston Tamil Sangam Literacy Competition
Brie Clayton July 1, 2026
0 Comments
Volunteers use ATEM Mini Pro, Blackmagic Desig...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
PlayBox Technology has published State of Broadcast Infrastructure 2026, an in-depth industry research report examining the technologies, operational challenges...
01/07/2026
LONDON, UK, 1 JULY Jigsaw24 has appointed Alan Henry as Head of Sales for Media and Entertainment, reinforcing its continued investment in helping broadcaster...
01/07/2026
Content Vault, the patent-pending secure content distribution platform protecting high-value media from disclosures, theft and unauthorised access, today announ...
01/07/2026
Bitcentral, Inc. a leading provider of enterprise software and digital media solutions for news, sports and entertainment broadcasters, as well as streaming pla...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/07/2026
Groundbreaking First Nations Screen Business Accelerator launched through nation...
01/07/2026
Chyron Launches the All-New Chyron Academy: A Reimagined, Hands-On Learning Expe...
01/07/2026
Amplium Captures Kawasaki Brave Thunders Game with Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersiv...
01/07/2026
Boris FX Optics Expands Plugin Support to Apple Photos, Capture One, and Affinit...
01/07/2026
UKTV has today announced the appointment of Matt Berry to the newly created role of General Manager - Marketing, effective 1 July.
Matt will take on this senio...
01/07/2026
Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign featuring Deborah Meaden challenges consumers to rethink everyday bathroom wasteWednesday 1 July 2026
Fussy asks Bri...
01/07/2026
Constituency-level analysis reveals where girls miss out most on sport - and where targeted action could unlock more than £640 million in economic and health be...
01/07/2026
Wuppertal July 1, 2026
Riedel and SKAARHOJ Expand Collaboration With SimplyLive IntegrationRiedel Communications today announced an expanded collaboration wit...
01/07/2026
Apple today introduced power-packed updates to Apple Creator Studio, a groundbre...
2024 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Mark Lazarus, a Paragon of Sports-Media Excellence By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. 
