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 ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/09/2026
Mavis has launched Mavis Camera 8.2, the latest release of its professional camera app for the iPhone and iPad. This update brings support for iPhone 18 Pro and...
29/09/2026
Oak View Group (OVG) has announced Cisco as an Official Technology Partner, with plans to standardize infrastructure across its venue network on Cisco solutions...
29/09/2026
SportsNet Pittsburgh (SNP) won three honors at the 2026 Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
Program awards went to Bucs BP in the Sports Program Live category (produced ...
29/09/2026
The Professional Women's Hockey League has announced home openers for all 12 teams for the 2026-27 season, along with a broadcast partnership with CBC under...
29/09/2026
Manifold technologies has been recognized as a contributor to the Media eXchange...
29/09/2026
FuboTV has announced My Local Sports, allowing subscribers in select markets to add their local regional sports network (RSN) as an add-on to a Fubo Sports subs...
29/09/2026
Asian News International (ANI), a wire agency and video news provider based in India, has deployed Grass Valley's AMPP Media Operating System and Framelight...
29/09/2026
South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) has deployed Ikegami UHK-X600 cameras as part of an upgrade to IP-based production infrastructure. The deployment ...
29/09/2026
REMI, REMCO models will drive the bulk of the broadcaster's NHL productions ...
29/09/2026
Three years in, the facility is supporting more centralized race production, com...
29/09/2026
NBC, Peacock, and NBSN are carrying all four Wild Card series with a production ...
29/09/2026
19 Nonfiction Projects Across All Stages of Production to Receive More Than $1 million in Support as Documentary Film Program Approaches 25th Anniversary
LOS ...
29/09/2026
Two new plug-ins launch alongside updated bundles
Zynaptiq have just announced the launch of two new plug-ins, alongside new and improved versions of two of...
29/09/2026
All-in-one bus processor revealed
Wes Audio's ng product range has come a long way since it was first introduced, and now includes a tasty selection of ...
29/09/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Ikegami announces that the South African Broadcasting Corporation, SABC, has chosen Ikegami UHK-X600 camera systems as part of an advance to IP-based operation ...
29/09/2026
Blendkit Offers 20% Discount to Celebrate Crossing 150K Asset Milestone
Brie Clayton September 29, 2026
0 Comments
Blendkit, the largest 3D asset libr...
29/09/2026
Interactive streaming specialist Ease Live supported more than 76.5 million fan sessions across three major European media operators during this summers FIFA Wo...
29/09/2026
Ease Live has added support for VAST (Video Ad Serving Template) to its graphical overlay technology, opening up new ways for broadcasters, streamers and rights...
29/09/2026
Rise AV has announced the launch of the inaugural Rise AV Awards, a new global awards programme celebrating the women, advocates and organisations across the AV...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/09/2026
Clear-Com announced that First Baptist Nashville has upgraded its production communications with a Clear-Com intercom solution as part of a comprehensive sanct...
29/09/2026
Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K Captured Action Shots for Sketch
Brie Clayton September 28, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's portable design and dynamic range...
29/09/2026
Kean Production Services Deploys AJA ColorBox to Deliver Consistent, Accurate Co...
29/09/2026
Berklee Alumni and Faculty Nominated for the 2026 Latin Grammy Awards A total of 28 Berklee alumni and faculty earned nominations across 20 categories this ye...
29/09/2026
Berklee's K-Pop & Beyond Explores Connections Between K-Pop and Hip-Hop Now in its fifth year, the series brings together artists, industry leaders, and s...
29/09/2026
We tend to think we live in a digital world, with hopes and fears around artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, data centres and the next big technolo...
29/09/2026
Today, in partnership with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), Apple relea...
29/09/2026
Final Cut Camera, the professional filming app for iPhone, receives a major upda...
29/09/2026
RT lyric fm is proud to announce the annual Choirs for Christmas competition callout. Warm up those vocal chords and join us on RT lyric fm for a celebration ...
28/09/2026
The NHL has announced Adobe as an Official Creative, Marketing and AI Partner beginning with the 2026-27 season. The partnership will provide the league and its...
28/09/2026
MultiDyne will exhibit at CABSAT 2026 (October 5-7, Dubai Exhibition Centre), showcasing an expanded technology portfolio following its June 2026 acquisition of...
28/09/2026
ARRI and HONOR have announced the HONOR Magic9 Pro Max, a flagship smartphone carrying ARRI branding on the device and packaging as the first product-level expr...
2024 Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame: Mark Lazarus, a Paragon of Sports-Media Excellence By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. 
