October 14, 2008

5Qs with ESPN/ABC Sports pres George Bodenheimer

In our continuing series of interviews with the incoming Cable Hall of Fame class, we ask Bodenheimer—one of the youngest members of the Hall—about the priorities for ESPN and what credit card he uses.

What's at the top of your priority list for ESPN?That goal never changes. It's to serve sports fans. Under that umbrella, each year we set priorities. And we print those on [an index card that is given to every employee to carry with them]. So there's no confusion about what our goals are. This particular year, our goals are on international growth, mobile and Web development, U.S. Hispanic market, and leadership skills within our employee ranks.

Corporate culture is very important to you. How do you maintain it now with a global brand?The biggest thing we do is we cherish our culture, and we are very focused on maintaining it with our new employees, and we do that by talking about it. We talk about our company as being a sports fan or like the-little-engine-that-could mentality or the underdog mentality. We talk to our employees. I also ask our more tenured employees to make sure they tell our newer employees about the culture and the history of the company. That's how we keep the culture alive.

You've been with ESPN for more than 20 years. You started before cable was a sure thing, much less a 24-hour sports network on cable. Was there a moment when you realized cable and ESPN would work?When I used to drive around the southwest—TX, AR, OK, LA and MO—that was my first territory, driving from town to town, trying to call on three cable operators a day, trying to introduce them to ESPN. Virtually every operator in every town would say, 'You know, George, this is a sports town.' That impressed me. It showed me first hand that there was a passion for sports. So it was not one moment, but three moments a day, three sales calls a day. I could see that first hand. I felt a confidence that we were on to something.

When you started at ESPN, did you ever dream you'd be running the company and one that's grown enormously?No, I was focused on building a career, happy to be doing it in my home state and in a business that I was passionate about. But I never envisioned anything beyond that. I'd be hard pressed to tell you I envisioned the global growth of the company, but a mere 29 years later it has literally never stopped growing. And it's still growing.

Speaking of that, we hear there's a new product, an ESPN Visa Card. Are you carrying one?I am. I'm told I'm one of the leading spenders. I'm not sure if that's the good news or the bad news. [Laughter].