Live From Men's Final Four: CBS Sports Director Mark Grant Gets His Shot In the Chair After 40+ Years In The Industry Grant is the first person of color to direct a televised major sports championship in the US By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital
Friday, March 31, 2023 - 9:10 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
For the first time in the 40-year history of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament on CBS Sports, a new man will sit in the director's chair for the Final Four and the National Championship Game this weekend. Mark Grant, a five-time Emmy Award-winner and veteran shot-caller of NFL, college football, college basketball, and golf, takes on the role, succeeding Bob Fishman, a Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer that hung up his headset a year ago.
Mark Grant will direct his first NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four on Saturday. (Photos: CBS Sports)
The historical magnitude of the change, though, extends far beyond a simple passing of the torch. It's also believed that Grant will become the first person of color to direct a televised major sports championship in the United States.
A 1981 graduate of LSU, Grant has been a trailblazer in the industry for more than four decades, first getting his start at ESPN before being hired by CBS Sports to direct NFL games when the network got NFL rights back in 1998. Since then, he's climbed the ladder, having directed games in every edition of March Madness dating back to 1999. Now, his time has come to sit in the director's chair for the Men's Final Four and the National Championship Game.
Prior to this weekend's games, SVG caught up with Grant to discuss his career, what it means to him to get this opportunity, what important lessons he has learned from his predecessor, what technological enhancements make the best storytelling tools, and what advice he would give to an aspiring live sports director today.
After more than 40 years in the business, you've done your fair share of big-time sporting events. What does it mean to you to finally get this shot at the Final Four and the National Championship Game on CBS?
I never expected it. When CBS hired me, they hired me to direct the NFL when they got the rights back to the NFL in 1998. I always really considered myself a football director who just happened to do basketball when basketball came along. So when they asked me to take the place of Bob Fishman - a guy who has been doing this for such a long time I was honored and kind of surprised that they thought enough of my basketball work to say, you're not just a football director. You're an excellent basketball director as well.' It kind of came out of left field, but I was thankful for the endorsement and for the confidence that they have in me to give me that opportunity. I'm just running with it. I can't believe it's me. I can't believe it's happening.
Grant has directed NCAA Tournament games each year since 1999. He was originally hired by CBS Sports in 1998 primarily as a director on the network's NFL package.
I see directors get asked a lot about how they put their own stamp on things when they take the director's chair on a property. Is that possible at this level? Or does March Madness have such an established identity that you mostly try to honor and carry on that?
Yea, you certainly want to stick to the model that's been set in place for such a long time but I'm also excited to have my own input. You can try to put your own stamp on it and just ruin everything. Forty years of hard work has been put into this [event]. I hope I can just come in here and do a great job. It's probably not going to look exactly like Bob Fishman did it because if you had any director come in they're gonna do it a little bit differently and I'm no exception to that. But I don't think the average viewer is going to be able to say, oh my God, that's not the same guy that's been doing it for 40 years. I don't think that's going to happen.
What did you learn from Bob Fishman over the course of your career? What was your relationship like with him?
Bob really welcomed me when I came to CBS in 1998. He has a passion for football just like I did, and he just taught me to really let the game come to you. Don't always be so aggressive and come of play-by-play [camera angle].
Sometimes the best cut is no cut at all. The best shot is staying on the camera that is play-by-play. I've painted myself in a corner many times, being too aggressive, cutting to the hero [shot] on a made basket and they steal the inbounds pass or someone steps on the line bringing the ball in. You miss that moment because you're so busy trying to cut shots. Bob really taught me that and I always think about that. I'm certainly not as aggressive as I used to be and I have Bob Fishman to thank for that.
How long ago did you first sit down with Mark Wolf to discuss working together on this project and in what ways do you typically like to build chemistry with a producer partner?
Mark and I have done a lot of basketball together, especially in our earlier years at CBS. We did [NCAA Tournament] Regional Finals together. I've known him a long time. He vaulted to the top of the college basketball world at CBS and I really didn't. When I got this promotion he called me and congratulated me, and told me to be me. To just do my thing and not to worry about copying Bob or anything like that. I really appreciate him for giving that vote of confidence.
He's he lets me do my thing, and through this journey so far, which started back in January. When we reunited for the first time, it's been a really wonderful experience. I know that he trusts me and that he'll take my ideas and implement them. Going into this Final Final,
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
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...
02/06/2026
Studio Technologies, a leading manufacturer of high-quality audio, video, and fiber-optic solutions, announces its new Model 385 Mic/Intercom Beltpack. The Mode...
02/06/2026
The Riedel Group today announced the appointment of Gudrun Scharler as CEO of Riedel Networks. She succeeds Michael Martens, who has led Riedel Networks since 2...
02/06/2026
More signals, higher quality, and outstanding ingest and streaming flexibility deliver professional results in a small, all-in-one footprint...
02/06/2026
farmerswife will be featured on the Modena Media & Entertainment stand at this year's Mediatech Africa 2026, giving visitors an opportunity to explore the l...
02/06/2026
PTZOptics will showcase a new generation of intelligent video workflows at InfoComm 2026, June 17 19, Las Vegas. Visitors to booth N8227 will see how PTZOptics ...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
01/06/2026
Designed to solve a common problem in broadcasting, the automated workflow detects, identifies, removes, and documents copyrighted music
AudioShake has introdu...
01/06/2026
The sports-analytics company combines its data with proprietary AI to help leagu...
01/06/2026
Category line-up & sponsors announced
Photo: Paul Clarke
The Production Music Awards (PMA) have announced that submissions are now officially open ahead of...
01/06/2026
New hybrid sample/synthesis instrument revealed
Excite Audio have just released the latest instalment in their Evolve series, which has been developed in co...
01/06/2026
Latest TONEX expansion captures three rare vintage amps
The newest addition to IK Multimedia's ever-growing TONEX line-up introduces a set of three incr...
01/06/2026
Musically intelligent soft synth gets upgraded
Scaler Music will be probably be best known to many for their music theory tools, but their product range al...
01/06/2026
SBS confirms its broadcast sponsors for FIFA World Cup 2026
1 June, 2026
Media releases
SBS has secured Hyundai, Hisense, Macca's, Rexona, bet365, Com...
01/06/2026
Rohde & Schwarz Satellite Industry Days 2026 guided by the motto From Earth to ...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Marshall Electronics is showcasing a comprehensive lineup of next-generation POV cameras, purpose-built to power today's connected AV environments, at InfoC...
01/06/2026
Adobe Announces Concept to Vector
Deepa Subramaniam June 1, 2026
0 Comments
One of the biggest frustrations we hear from designers is how difficult it...
01/06/2026
Vampire Feature Night Patrol Graded with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton June 1, 2026
0 Comments
Colorist shapes dark, gritty tone for horror thri...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
01/06/2026
Luxembourg, June 1, 2026 - SES, a leading space solutions company, and Viva, Mexico's ultra low-cost airline, launched fast and reliable multi-orbit satelli...
01/06/2026
Agentic AI is getting physical.
At COMPUTEX on Tuesday, NVIDIA announced NVIDIA JetPack 7.2 and NVIDIA NemoClaw support on NVIDIA Jetson.
JetPack 7.2 brings a...
01/06/2026
Financial institutions have spent years building AI: fraud models, credit models...
01/06/2026
Mardi 2 juin 14h00
FilmLight (ARRI), 10 rue Ren Boulanger, 75010 Paris
Rejoignez-nous pour d couvrir comment FLAPI (l'API FilmLight) peut transformer e...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
31/05/2026
Olivia P rez-Collellmir to Premiere Original Work at Gaud Centennial in Barcelona The Berklee graduate and faculty member will debut her choral symphony with...
31/05/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Wins 15 Awards at the Canadian Screen Awards - See Pho...
31/05/2026
Taiwan is home to more than 500 NVIDIA ecosystem partners. More than 1 million N...
31/05/2026
As factories move from isolated automation to plant-wide intelligence, manufacturers need AI systems that can connect live machine signals, quality systems, wor...
31/05/2026
The NVIDIA AI Cloud ecosystem is accelerating the global buildout of AI factory infrastructure. Partners are expanding capacity to meet growing demand from ente...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/05/2026
Zero in on one that says yes (and no)
Andy Marken May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image courtesy of Deposit Photos
For content creators the most difficu...
29/05/2026
With InfoComm 2026 just weeks away, NDI is giving attendees plenty of reasons to...
29/05/2026
Reaffirming a partnership that has defined Canadian sports broadcasting since 19...
29/05/2026
Mobile/tablet is No. 2 device for watching TV, suggesting that the sports-production industry needs to take another look at the format
Ring Digital's Sprin...
29/05/2026
Berliner Ensemble, one of Berlin's five major theater companies, has expande...
Live From Men's Final Four: CBS Sports Director Mark Grant Gets His Shot In the Chair After 40+ Years In The Industry Grant is the first person of color to direct a televised major sports championship in the US By Brandon Costa, Director of Digital 
