Biography
George Bodenheimer’s climb to the top management position at ESPN started in the company’s Bristol mailroom 32 years ago. He grew up in the ESPN culture and humbly regards himself as just one of the many responsible for the sports media company’s spectacular success story.
“The growth of the company…is a testament to the passion and the loyalty of all the thousands of ESPN people over the years who have worked tirelessly to make ESPN into what it is today,” said the 54-year-old Bodenheimer. “…There were many years in the early going when it was not clear if ESPN was going to make it at all. That passion for sports, and what we were trying to do, drove us.”
Those days of uncertainty have long since passed. And since 1998 when Bodenheimer became President and Chairman, the company has thrived. ESPN has expanded from 75 million homes to nearly 100 million, and ESPN2 from 62 million to nearly the same number.
The company also jumped from four to eight domestic television networks, from 20 international networks to 48, from one web site to 18 and from 620 radio affiliates to 750. ESPN’s workforce went from 1,900 employees to 7,000 worldwide. And despite the rapid expansion in a number of platforms in a long menu of sports, the quality programming for the sports fan has endured.
“He has always been focused on ensuring that sports fans, in particular college football fans, remain the primary beneficiary of our efforts at ESPN while balancing the needs of our key stakes holders, rights holders, partners and customers,” said Burke Magnus, ESPN Senior Vice President, College Sports Programming. “George is the ultimate team player. For those who know him, you know he is a very humble individual. But his creativity and leadership have helped redefine and enhance sports fans’ experiences in this country and around the word.”
A graduate of Denison (Ohio) University, Bodenheimer had a keen interest in entering the sports business field out of college. Upon graduation in 1980, he sent letters to the front offices of all 26 major-league baseball teams. He received rejection letters from all but the Philadelphia Phillies. They interviewed him, handed him a tie, and told him to seek a job in the minor leagues.
Bodenheimer decided to expand his job search to other areas in sports. A friend of his father’s in sports television suggested ESPN might be a good entry company for a recent graduate. The fledgling all-sports cable network, the visionary idea of founder Bill Rasmussen, had been in existence about a year.
“I managed to get an interview with ESPN,” Bodenheimer said. “I think the interview lasted about three minutes. The human resources director informed me I would be qualified to be a driver in the mailroom…It was about an hour’s drive back to my home from Bristol, and I started thinking about what I am going to say to my dad about today’s interview.”
Over a couple of beers with his father, Bodenheimer says he got the best advice he has ever received. The job, if ultimately offered, was going to pay about $8,000 a year. That was less than the tuition at Denison for a year.
“That’s when he said to me you are making a career decision, not a money decision. And if you think sports television is a career you would be interested in, you should absolutely take the position and get a foot in the door,” Bodenheimer recalled. “He said, ‘Don’t worry about the money and the role and all that business.’ And fortunately, I took his advice.”
About a week later, Bodenheimer got the job.
“And 10 days later, I was delivering the mail at ESPN,” he said. “That was about 32 years ago. And I really credit my dad with some clear thinking there. I have reused that advice hundreds of times with students. I think it was the best advice I ever got.”
Bodenheimer moved from the mail room to the videotape library in Bristol where he worked while seeking his next opportunity. In 1982, Bodenheimer said he was the only person in the company who applied for an ESPN marketing representative’s position in the South Central Region.
He took the job, which was based in Arlington, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. He traveled in Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Mississippi trying to sell the then-crazy notion of 24-hour sports network to cable operators. All the while, he was systematically gaining an understanding of how ESPN worked.
“Regardless of your position or what business you are in, diversity of experience is extremely important,” he said. “There is no substitute for doing different things and learning about them. You can read about them, you can hear about them, but there is no substitute for doing them. And I was fortunate enough to having been given an opportunity to do a lot of different things at ESPN. And I am very thankful for that.”
Bodenheimer obviously was good at selling and marketing ESPN because he quickly went from Dallas to Chicago as a marketing rep and then became National Accounts Manager (Rocky Mountain Region) in Denver in 1985. He had another stop in 1988 in Bristol as Director of Affiliate Sales and Marketing (Eastern Division) before a decade of various high-level jobs in Bristol and New York City in ESPN marketing and sales leading up to his presidency.
“In 30 years he has worn every pair of shoes you could wear,” Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds said during Bodenheimer’s public appearance on the UT campus in September 2011. “And he knows every job at ESPN. He remembers how he was treated by supervisors and how he wanted to be treated by them. And over those 30 years he has drawn into his own business philosophy. The thing I like about George: he empowers people. He empowers his staff and he operates in a culture of family.”
Bodenheimer has always been a big fan of college football in his professional and personal life.
During his tenure as president, ESPN secured multi-platform deals with the SEC, Pac-12, Big Ten, ACC, Big 12 and Big East conferences and the entire Bowl Championship Series. ESPN has televised the lion’s share of the bowl scene in recent years.
He’s also an avid spectator of football games at Syracuse, Penn State and his alma mater Denison — schools where his three children are now or have attended.
“I personally love college football and all things about it,” he said. “College football has been an important ESPN offering from the very beginning. We are extremely proud of our contributions not only to the game, but the growth of the game over the three-plus decades. I have been attending college football games my entire career at ESPN. I love it. Love the emotion, the passion, the spirit, the pageantry.”
In a recent Harris Poll survey, college football was tied with major-league baseball as the second most popular sport among fans. Looking back, Bodenheimer believes ESPN has helped college football grow.
“Certainly, ESPN and other media outlets contributed (to rise of college football popularity),” Bodenheimer said. “Sports which weren’t really year-around sports, except for the insiders, are basically now covered as year-around sports. There is news and interest, and it warrants all of that. I think it has played a role in growing the game of football. If you are a fan, that is a great thing.”
On Jan. 1, 2012, Bodenheimer was appointed executive chairman of ESPN, Inc. and relinquished his day-to-day operating responsibilities of the company. In his new role, Bodenheimer continues to chair ESPN’s board of directors and provide strategic direction. He now is seeing the company from “the bridge, instead of the engine room” as he says in his own words.
“The thing I am most proud of…is the way we have operated this company with integrity,” he said. “We always try and do the right thing. We look you in the eye when we are doing business. We shake hands and do what we say we are going to do. To me, a handshake means everything.”
