Norby Williamson has installed a new executive team at the FanDuel regional sports networks (RSNs), which are operated by Main Street Sports.
Williamson, a longtime former ESPN executive, joined the conglomerate earlier this year after it emerged from bankruptcy. In a departure from previous norms with the RSNs, the live-event production will now be centrally organized by sport instead of by regional fiefdoms.
About 10 regional network executive producers were let go in the restructuring, and four former ESPN producers—Larry Holm, Jay Rothman, Ed Placey, and Mark Summer—were added to the leadership team, sources told Front Office Sports.
Reached by phone, Williamson confirmed the new faces, and added that Brett Opdyke, who had been an executive producer for the Florida RSN, will remain as part of the team. Williamson declined to confirm how many previous leaders were ousted.
“We’re reinventing the business and the way we do production and technology,” Williamson said. “We’ve got four Hall of Famers who were chomping at the bit to join us.”
The RSNs (previously under Fox Sports and Bally Sports monikers) had been broken up into verticals by region, and will now be organized “horizontally” by specific sports, Williamson noted.
Opdyke and Holm will lead NBA coverage, Rothman will be on NHL, Placey will oversee MLB, and Summer will be in charge of studio production, including the pre- and postgame shows. The FanDuel RSNs have the rights for about 30 teams across the three sports, including 13 in the NBA.
Holm most recently worked at Golf Channel. Rothman was the former Monday Night Football producer who also worked on Netflix’s Christmas NFL games. Placey worked at ESPN for 36 years, including as the VP and senior coordinating producer for ESPN/ABC college football. Summer is a longtime industry vet who has worked at ESPN and Golf Channel.
“The goal here is to be able to position the company to take advantage of technology, reinvent how we produce the games. I was at ESPN a long time, and we did a lot of innovation with the games—access, graphics on the screen, analytics, etc,” Williamson said.
“We have 3,000 MLB, NBA, and NHL games. No one has that scope and no one has that reach. So the opportunity to experiment, innovate and be more creative is what attracted me to come here—and what attracted those guys to come here.”
