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...
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...
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...
29/05/2026
Solid State Logic will showcase its new compact, fly-away TCA Tour audio product...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, passed away last month on April 12 ...
29/05/2026
Paramount+ will be the English-language U.S. home for Barclays Women's Super...
29/05/2026
Further strengthening its virtualisation strategy to fully support broadcasters ...
29/05/2026
Swiss broadcaster Canal Alpha has deployed Harmonic's award-winning, software-based XOS Advanced Media Processor to modernize playout operations across cant...
29/05/2026
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 ...
29/05/2026
Arizona's Family has launched the Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) streaming app, a new direct-to-consumer destination for live, local sports. The app is ...
29/05/2026
Starting in 2027, DAZN will be the exclusive home of The Canadian Football Leagu...
29/05/2026
Comcast Business has detailed the advanced network infrastructure it has deploye...
29/05/2026
In two-day event, leaders from academia and industry explored solutions to chall...
29/05/2026
The Basketball Tournament (TBT), now entering their 13th year of competition, ha...
29/05/2026
Roku has launched FOX One as a Premium Subscription on The Roku Channel in the U.S. Roku customers can now subscribe to FOX One using their Roku account for liv...
29/05/2026
In its sixth year, the broadcaster's coverage has become a global brand and ...
29/05/2026
Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent ratings news and is derived from press re...
29/05/2026
The days are getting longer, the temperatures are rising, and playlists are filling up for the season. With summer around the corner, Spotify's global edito...
29/05/2026
New retro-inspired MPC announced
There are few devices that have gained the status held by Akai Pro's MPC range, and in recent years, the company have s...
29/05/2026
Save up to 30 on acclaimed titles
Following a successful launch at Superbooth 2026, Bjooks have revealed that they will be continuing the Kickstarter campa...
29/05/2026
Binaural monitoring application improved
Genelec have just released an update that brings some powerful new features to their HRTF-based binaural headphone ...
29/05/2026
6 June 2026 at SAE Institute, London, UK
IMSTA FESTA 2026 is almost upon us, with some of the biggest names in pro-audio set to descend upon SAE Institute i...
29/05/2026
Gerald (Jerry) Pierce, a pioneering technologist who helped shape the digital transformation of the motion picture industry, died April 12, 2026, at his home in...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Comparing 5 AI Video Enhancers for Restoring Old Video Quality
Kate Luvis May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Digitizing VHS, MiniDV, and other legacy formats doe...
29/05/2026
Studio Hamburg Builds New Post Pipeline with DaVinci Resolve Studio
Brie Clayton May 29, 2026
0 Comments
Workflow replaces a patchwork of legacy tools...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/05/2026
At the Intersection of Music and Dance, an Epic Collaboration Boston Conservatory musicians and dancers found creative parallels in their recent performance o...
29/05/2026
May 29 2026, 09:00 (PDT) Dolby and rednote Bring More Immersive Storytelling to...
29/05/2026
Something fundamental has shifted in how people consume media. Audiences aren't abandoning television or radio content; they're just expanding how, wher...
29/05/2026
Youtube exclusive special drops today
Watch now
UKTV today announces another e...
29/05/2026
Back to All News
The Official Trailer of Physical 100 Italy, on Netflix From Se...
29/05/2026
At just 20 years old, Sean Melia from Summerhill Co. Meath has been revealed as the winner of Super Garden 2026. Sean is the youngest ever contestant and winner...
29/05/2026
Experimental HIV vaccine achieves a long-sought goal In a first for the field, all non-human primates given a new series of vaccines generated antibodies capabl...
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 
