Category Archives: Sherman Spotlight

My Chicago Tribune story on monetizing Halas Hall: Bears open headquarters with new event center

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This falls under the category of sports business. However, it also is a follow-up to a sports media story I did last fall.

I did a piece in today’s Chicago Tribune on the Bears looking to monetize Halas Hall, their headquarters and training facility in Lake Forest. The team built a new event center as part of a 43,000-square foot addition.

You also can access the package, which features a video and pictures, via my twitter feed at Sherman_Report.

The Bears’ new space also includes a state-of-the-art broadcast operation. In October, I did a story for USA Today on how NFL teams also are becoming content companies.

All in all, the league continues to find news ways to print money.

Here is the excerpt to my Tribune story on the facility.

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Ted Phillips always was struck whenever visitors walked through Halas Hall. The Bears president saw their eyes darting around and the look of fascination on their faces as they toured the team’s headquarters and training facility in Lake Forest.

He realized he had an untapped commodity.

“It amazed me that they were so intrigued,” Phillips said. “Usually, the team wasn’t playing. There weren’t any players around. They loved just being where the Bears practice. It got us to start thinking, how can we do more?”

The result of the brainstorming is a new 43,000-square-foot addition to the Bears’ facility that will allow fans — at least well-connected fans — to have dramatically increased access to Halas Hall. And it will enable the Bears to make some money in the place where key decisions are made.

The sprawling facility, renovated during the past year, includes expanded locker rooms and workout areas, a new dining complex for the players, and a state-of-the-art broadcast operation for TV and radio shows produced by the Bears.

The centerpiece of the addition, from a business and marketing standpoint, is the new event center, which can seat up to 180 people. There also is an airy two-story atrium with touch screens highlighting Bears history and the current team. In another part of Halas Hall, there is a new plush skybox for VIPs to watch practice. The team also is shopping naming rights to the addition, though George Halas’ name will remain on the entire facility.

When asked if Halas Hall now is set up to become a profit center, Phillips said, “No doubt about it.”

Bears officials last week told a group of prominent team sponsors that the space is available for charity functions, business meetings, sales presentations and promotion opportunities. The message was clear: This is a chance for companies to take people behind the curtain.

“You can buy a ticket to a game,” Chris Hibbs, vice president of sales and marketing, told the gathering. “You can’t buy a ticket into this place.”

Hibbs said access will be available only to sponsors, business partners, suite owners and key philanthropic supporters.

“Would we sell space now to someone who came in off the street?” Hibbs said. “The answer is ‘no.'”

The Bears view the event center as a way to enhance the value of doing business with the team. Promotion is terrific, Hibbs said, but marketing has become about providing a different experience to clients.

“Brands across the board in sports realize the need to come up with more experiences that people can’t get elsewhere,” Hibbs said. “Not to oversell this, but it’s just different from what people have seen before. The average fan doesn’t get a chance to see this. They’re usually blown away.”

 

 

 

Why players want their cut: 2013 NCAA tournament generated $1.15 billion in ad revenue for CBS, Turner

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When you see dollars in the billions, it is hard to argue that the players don’t deserve more than a few trinkets and meal money from the NCAA tournament.

This item caught my attention via Collegeathleticsclips.com. According to Kantar Media, a research firm, the 2013 NCAA tournament ad revenues generated $1.15 billion for CBS and Turner Sports.

Kantar writes:

Over the past decade (2004-2013), the NCAA men’s basketball tournament has triggered more than $6.88 billion of national TV ad spending from 269 different marketers. Ad revenue in 2013 was $1.15 billion, up 3.8 percent from the prior year.

Take a moment to think about those numbers: $1.15 billion in 2013 and $6.88 billion since 2004. Yet not one dime for the players.

In fact, the NCAAs pull in more TV ad revenue than any postseason in sports, including the NFL, which obviously has far fewer games.  It has more than doubled since 2004.

CBS and Turner need to generate that kind of money to offset its current 14-year, $10.8 billion deal with the NCAA. Then there also are the productions costs of airing all those games.

Clearly, though, it is a good deal on many levels for CBS and Turner. They own the attention of sports fans for three weeks.

The tournament also is good business for the companies and advertising firms. According to Kantar, General Motors, at $80 million, was the top NCAA advertiser last year.

Obviously, it works out well for the NCAA, coaches and administrators. They all have seen their salaries rise considerably thanks in part to the tournament.

As for the players? It’s still about the thrill of competition, right?

 

 

Q/A with Greg Anthony: Working first NCAA tournament as CBS lead analyst while on baby watch

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It turns out Jim Nantz isn’t the only CBS announcer with baby issues this month. His new college basketball partner, Greg Anthony, has a little girl on the way.

Anthony, though, wasn’t able to time things as well as his the Nantz family; Courtney gave birth to a girl on Saturday. Anthony’s wife, Chere, is due with the couple’s fourth child on March 28, the day of the Sweet 16 games.

“It has added some anxiety,” Anthony said.  “I want everyone to be healthy. But by the same token, I want to be there (for the birth of the baby) and not have to miss any NCAA assignments. We’ll have to play it by ear.”

This is a big opportunity for Anthony. He will be working his first NCAA tournament and Final Four as CBS’ new No. 1 college basketball analyst. He is switching places with Clark Kellogg, who was moved to the studio during the tournament.

The former UNLV star knows the highs and lows of the NCAAs. He played on one of the most dominant teams of all time in winning the 1990 title. Yet he still suffers from the sting of the undefeated Runnin’ Rebel being upset by Duke in the 1991 Final Four.

Here is my Q/A with Anthony.

How do you feel about this opportunity?

It’s an awesome honor. I had the opportunity to be in the shoes of those players, both win and lose. In some ways, I’m fortunate to have had all of those experiences. I know what disappointment feels like. I know the misery of losing isn’t quite the same as the ecstasy of winning.

Do you still think about that loss to Duke?

Yes, even more when you get to this time of year. Those memories come to the forefront. There is more conversation about it. We were fortunate in that we already had won a national title.

Now I use those experiences to talk about the pressure these young men are feeling in the Final Four.

How do you explain that pressure?

It’s interesting. You often don’t appreciate the magnitude of the moment when you’re a college player. Oh, you know it’s big and that it is for the national championship. But you don’t realize for years to come that it’s going to be part of history. How your career is going to be defined.

Maybe it’s good to be a little naive in that way. You don’t allow the pressure to overcome you.

You only have worked two games with Nantz. How difficult will it be to develop chemistry on the fly during the tournament?

There is a challenge with that. Jim and I stay in contact all the time. We’re always talking about the game.

The ultimate for us is to win. The way to win is that you have to play with your teammates. It’s about everyone in our production crew. Spending time together. Going out for dinners. All those bonding moments definitely help when you face the moment of truth (during a telecast).

What will be your approach in analyzing the games?

There’s a lot of responsibility when you’re in that chair. The focus for me is about the games and the stories. I equate March Madness to the Olympics. The vast majority of people don’t watch college basketball until the tournament. The same as the OIympics.

When you tell the stories, it compels people to care about these players. You tell how they got there. They are someone’s brother or son. People can relate to that.

What about criticism? Is there a balance you have to strike in being critical and yet knowing that you’re not talking about seasoned NBA veterans?

That’s a great point. You can be compassionate even when you’re critical. I don’t go into any game expecting perfection. Mistakes are part of it. As long as you don’t make it personal, you’ll be fine.

As a player, nobody had to tell me I screwed up. I knew. I also say some mistakes are forced. The other team has players on scholarship too. I think it is important to explain the reason behind the mistake.

Let’s not forget these are young kids. When Chris Webber called the timeout, he was a young kid. Young kids make mistakes. That’s part of the tournament.

You playing on great and heavily favored UNLV teams. What’s better, having dominating teams or a wide-open tournament like we have this year?

This is better. When you have parity, it creates so much more excitement. The difference between the elite teams and everyone else has shrunk. There are No. 4 seeds that people like better than No. 1 seeds this year.

I always felt there were 8 to 10 teams who could win the title and a handful more could get to the Final Four. Now you can double that. Nobody knows what’s going to happen. That’s beautiful for the game.

 

 

 

 

Rick Reilly: An appreciation for Hall of Fame writing career

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My latest column for the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana is on Rick Reilly, one helluva writer.

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Last week, Rick Reilly announced that he is giving up his ESPN.com column at the end of June. He is going to be exclusively a TV guy now, filing reports for the network’s coverage of Monday Night Football and SportsCenter.

It truly is the end of an era if he is indeed closing out his writing career. Let’s just look at what is on the back of his so-called baseball card.

–11-time National Sportswriter of the Year.

–2009 Damon Runyon Award for Outstanding Contributions to Journalism. Previous winners have included Jimmy Breslin, Tim Russert, Bob Costas, Mike Royko, George Will, Ted Turner and Tom Brokaw, among others. Not bad company there.

–23-year career at Sports Illustrated, including 10 years as the back-page columnist.

–Author of 10 books, several of which were bestsellers.

–And coming this June, Reilly will be inducted into the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame. That begs the question: What took so long?

Reilly easily is the most read sportswriter of his generation, given his platforms at Sports Illustrated and ESPN. Is he best? He definitely is in the team picture.

Often, Reilly’s is so good, it almost is painful for sportswriters like me to read him. Even on my best day, I’ll never get within 10 shots of Reilly on the leaderboard.

Reilly plays to another level with his one-liners. He has the rare ability to turn phrases that only could come from his imagination.

On golf, he once wrote: “Golf is the cruelest game, because eventually it will drag you out in front of the school take your lunch money and slap you around.”

Reilly describing Tom Brady: “Six-four with a chin you can crack coconuts on. Eyes greener than the 13th at Augusta. And one of those oh-darn-I-forgot-to-shave-and-now-I-look-like-a-cologne-ad beards. But it’s not his heroic arm or his lifeguard body or his Crest smile that makes women smooth their skirts and men curse their parents. It’s that he seems to see himself as a tall Milhouse.”

I mean, I won’t even try to come up with a one-liner for those. I’d just look silly.

Yet Reilly’s columns always have been about more than just one-liners. He also tells stories about the human condition in sports, pieces that invoke deep emotion. He did it again a couple weeks ago with a column on Jim Kelly, who is battling cancer.

Reilly writes: “Next time you’re running about two quarts low on hope, or feel like you’re on the wrong end of God’s Whac-A-Mole game, think of Jim Kelly and be glad you’re not him.

“Jim Kelly is sport’s Job. If it’s raining anywhere, it’s raining on Jim Kelly. He’s as unlucky as a one-legged dog.”

Reilly, though, goes on to write that Kelly somehow is trying to maintain a positive attitude despite all the obstacles he has endured in his life. It is a moving piece. These are the kind of columns that you have come to expect, and will miss, from Reilly.

I know there are people who will disagree with my assessment here. If anything, Reilly became a victim of his own success. His big name made him a target for bloggers. They quickly learned that tearing him down equated to major page views. Suddenly, it became open season on Reilly.

It has felt like death by a thousand paper cuts to Reilly. Surely, it has been painful for him. If his critics contributed to him giving up his column, well, that’s just sad.

I have been careful to write in the present tense here. It’s not as if Reilly died or is retiring. He’s still going to be writing for TV. Now instead of reading his words, you will be listening to them.

Yet it won’t be the same. People in the sportswriting fraternity, either long-time colleagues or those who grew up reading him, know his impact. It is profound.

When Reilly made his announcement, award-winning Yahoo! Sports columnist Pat Forde said in a tweet: “My first sports writing role model. Still have the handwritten note he sent me in college critiquing my stuff.”

Reilly’s hero, Jim Murray, once said, “Writing a column is like riding a tiger. You don’t want to stay on, but you don’t want to get off either.”

Reilly has decided to get off the tiger now. On his behalf of all his readers, thanks for taking us on one helluva ride.

 

 

Q/A on process for ESPN 30 for 30 documentaries: ‘We want to tell stories in different ways’

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My latest column for the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana University is a Q/A with John Dahl, the executive producer for ESPN Films.

A side note: Dahl is a cousin to my best friend in the business, former Chicago Tribune sportswriter Reid Hanley, who passed away in 2010. It turns Dahl also thought very highly of Reid. In fact, it was Reid who inspired him to go into sports media.

I know Reid was and continues to be proud of John’s work.

Here’s an excerpt of the column.

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ESPN’s “30 for 30” franchise is much like the Big Ten. The conference soon will have 14 schools, but it is sticking with the long-time name.

ESPN will be 35-years-old this year, and Sunday’s night latest, “Requiem for the Big East” (9 p.m. ET) will be the 47th “30 for 30” film. Yet the original label remains from Bill Simmons’ idea to do 30 documentary films to celebrate ESPN’s 30th anniversary in 2009.

ESPN actually did remove the “30 for 30” name after the initial batch of films. And the result? The ratings weren’t as strong.

So the network revived the “30 for 30” logo for subsequent films, and the viewers returned. It’s all about branding, right?

ESPN’s “30 for 30” thrives because of its unique way of storytelling. Most of them are so compelling I often find myself watching them multiple times.

To get more insights into the “30 for 30” process, I talked with John Dahl, the executive producer for ESPN Films.

ESPN isn’t 30 anymore, and you have done more than 30 documentaries. Why do you still call the films “30 for 30″?

It’s a good question. Because the brand became synonymous with documentaries for us. It became not just synonymous with documentaries but a level of quality. There was such a good reception, a good response to “30 for 30″ it had like a halo of effect of ‘that’s a ‘30 for 30.’” The translation was a great documentary.

So you had brand identification?

Yeah, it’s hard to get a brand to cut through and stick like that. That’s really tough. It stuck, so why fight it? Just embrace it and be glad that it resonates that way.

Did it surprise you that people identified with the films that strongly?

Yeah, it did. I mean, obviously we’ve got high hopes. We think they’re all great films. We’re putting everything into it in terms of our effort and whatnot, but you don’t know when a brand sometimes is going to take off like that. When we started “30 for 30,” did we think that brand would become synonymous with great documentaries? No, we thought it would just be an organizing principle of 30 films covered over a 30 year period because the original conceit was when ESPN was formed, 1979 to 2009, so we would focus on that window of time and tell these great stories and reach out to these various filmmakers to tell stories they’re passionate about and specific stories that ultimately touched on larger themes.

Let’s talk about the process. What are you looking for in a “30 for 30″ film?

I think, first of all, it is a specific story that does touch larger themes, that has a larger impact in some way. I think that makes it stand out.

I think in terms of the story, it can be something lesser known, but it also can be something more well known. If we have a fresh take on it, I think that’s the key. We don’t want to just bring what you already know. We want to bring something new to it. That to me is a real benefit of reaching out to independent filmmakers because they come in with their own point of view, their own passions, their own level of expertise, and it keeps it fresh. By doing that, by having different filmmakers, it doesn’t get ever feeling like it’s a formula. This is the way ESPN Films does a doc. We don’t ever want anybody thinking that. We want to tell stories in different ways. That to me is what keeps it vibrant.

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Here is the link to the entire column.

 

Chicago news: WBBM leading candidate to land Cubs games on radio

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My latest Chicago Tribune column is on how a WGN tradition dating back to 1925 could be ending for Cubs radio.

You also can access the entire column via my Twitter feed at @Sherman_Report.

Here is an excerpt from the column.

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WBBM-AM 780 has emerged as the leading candidate to become the new radio home of the Cubs.

The CBS-owned outlet is using all of its local stations in a synergistic bid to land the rights to the Cubs, beginning with the 2015 season, according to team and industry sources. If the team goes with WBBM, it would end its long relationship with WGN-AM 720, which dates back to 1925.

The Cubs wouldn’t comment on the situation. However a team source said, “We believe there is a very good market for Cubs rights.”

It was WGN’s decision to put the Cubs’ rights on the market after it exercised an option to reopen its contract with the team last fall. Broadcast sources say WGN is losing significant money on the Cubs broadcasts, with listeners and advertisers tuning out a ballclub that has lost 197 games in the last two years. The station still will air Cubs games in 2014.

Rod Zimmerman, senior vice president and market manager of CBS Radio Chicago, and WGN President Jimmy de Castro both were out of town and unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Reportedly, the Cubs have one of most lucrative radio deals in baseball, valued at an estimated $10 million per year. Despite the rough times, there is an expectation the Cubs still will be able to maintain that revenue level, and perhaps even improve it.

“They are looking for someone to write a big check and someone will,” a local radio insider said.

CBS could be in the best position to add to its sports inventory. The station already airs Bears games on its AM outlet along with a simulcast on its FM station, WCFS-FM 105.9. CBS also has White Sox games on its sports talk outlet, WSCR-AM 670.

Behind scenes with ABC for Chicago-Miami game; ‘Do you think Yannick Noah would be a good interview?’

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Pleased to announced that I am joining the crew at Awful Announcing as a contributing writer. If you follow sports media, you already know about the interesting and entertaining content produced by Matt Yoder and his crew. Many thanks to Bloguin CEO Ben Koo for making this happen. I am looking forward to drafting behind them, so to speak.

From time to time, I will be doing original content for Awful Announcing. My first piece is a  a behind-the-scenes look at ABC’s production of the Chicago-Miami game Sunday.

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I enjoyed spending time with Mike Breen, Jeff Van Gundy, Lisa Salters, producer Tim Corrigan, director Jimmy Moore and the rest of the crew. A highlight was watching how Salters’ memorable interview with Joakim Noah’s father, Yannick, unfolded in the truck.

From the story:

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Word, though, filters in to the truck that Joakim Noah’s father, tennis great Yannick Noah, is at the game. Corrigan asks Salters, “Lisa, would he be a good interview?”

“Let me find out,” Salters said.

Little did they know how good it would be.

As the first quarter closes out, Van Gundy notes about Augustin, “That’s a season saving signing for Chicago.”

Breen, without missing a beat, says, “Oh, nice alliteration there.”

Second quarter: “We might do Augustin coming out of the break,” Corrigan said. “Nobody knows who he is.”

It doesn’t happen. Instead, Salters finds Yannick Noah in the stands. Using a double screen, Moore is able to show Yannick watching his son. Yannick then cuts off Salters in mid sentence and jumps out of his chair while watching his son make a terrific defensive stop followed by a hustle play resulting in a foul on the offensive end. Yannick’s animated reaction makes for great television, a sure SportsCenter moment.

“I think that’s the best 2-box we’ve ever done,” Moore said.

During a break, Breen tells Salters, “To back off and let him go was a great decision.”

Corrigan says, “You’ve got to get a little lucky now and then.”

How John Wooden, Curt Gowdy played roles in a reluctant Dick Vitale launching broadcast career at ESPN

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Earlier this week, I did a USA Today story on 70-plus announcers/analysts who still are thriving in the business. Naturally a main focus was on Dick Vitale, 74 going on 17.

While talking to Vitale, he told a great tale on how he reluctantly got into broadcasting after being fired from the Detroit Pistons. It turns out a couple legends helped plant the seeds.

Here is video of that first ESPN game, DePaul-Wisconsin in 1979.

Here’s Dickie V on how he wound up behind the microphone.

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The last game I coached (for Detroit) was in Lexington. We were playing Michigan (in the NCAA Sweet 16). We had a good team.

We’re at practice and there are three guys in the stands. Two of them are Curt Gowdy and John Wooden. I’m saying, “What is this?”

The third guy comes over and says, “I’m Scotty Connal, the head of production for NBC. We’re doing your game tomorrow.”

After practice, they all came down to listen to me give a talk to my team. Wooden and Gowdy, two Hall of Famers. Are you kidding me?

OK, then a couple of years later, after I get fired from the Pistons, I get a call. He says, “You won’t remember me, but I was with Curt Gowdy and John Wooden (in Lexington). When we left the arena that day, Curt and John said, ‘That guy has personality. You might want to give him a chance to do TV.'”

He said, “I want to give you a chance to do our first basketball game for ESPN.”

I said, “No, I’m going back to coaching in college. I made a mistake going to the NBA. I was on the fast track. I teaching sixth grade and seven years later, I’m coaching in the NBA. I belong in college basketball.”

Now all of the sudden, nobody’s calling me (with offers to coach). I’m depressed. I’m hanging around the house watching General Hospital. I’m driving my wife crazy.

(Lorraine) gets in my cage. “You’re not the first guy to get fired and you won’t be the last guy.”

Luckily, Scotty calls me back. My wife says, “Do the game. Go have fun.” She just wanted to get me out of the house.

My first game, I have no idea what’s happening. I’m walking the streets of Chicago. I had no idea about production meetings. I arrive about 1:15 before the game and they’re going crazy. This is ESPN’s first college basketball game.

They say, “Where have you been?” I say, “Scotty said, ‘All I have to do is talk about basketball.’ What else do you want me to do?'”

If you had told me when I came here 35 years ago, 12 Hall of Fames, 10 books, Cosby show…I pinch myself about the life I’ve been given. It has exceeded every dream.

 

 

Musburger isn’t retiring any time soon: ‘I would be watching them on TV anyway, so why not go out and get paid for it?’

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Tuesday, I did a long story in USA Today about the significant number of announcers/analysts still going strong in their 70s, and even 80s, in TV sports at the national and local levels. It is unprecedented.

The list includes Vin Scully, Dick Vitale, Marv Albert, Verne Lundquist, Lee Corso, among others.

I talked to several of the prominent names, except one: Brent Musburger, still going strong at 74.

A little background: My connection with Musburger goes deep into my sports roots. Prior to becoming a big national star at CBS, he was the local sports anchor for WBBM-Ch. 2 during the 70s in Chicago. In the days before ESPN and the Internet, I grew up getting my sports news from Musburger. He was tremendous back then, and it didn’t take long before CBS Sports gave him the keys to the entire enterprise. In some way, I imagine he helped lay the foundation for me wanting to be a sportswriter.

So naturally I wanted to talk to Musburger. However, after several requests to ESPN, I was told that he wasn’t doing interviews at this time.

In the USA Today piece, I wrote:

With his contract expiring at ESPN this summer, Musburger is turning down interview requests. There has been talk that the network will make Chris Fowler their lead play-by-play voice for college football.

Wildhack wouldn’t talk specifically about Musburger’s situation other than, “My hope is that Brent will be with ESPN for years to come.”

OK, fine, I understood that. However, last week I saw Jason Lisk of Big Lead did a behind-the-scenes story on Musburger, Fran Fraschilla, Holly Rowe and the ESPN production crew during a basketball game at Kansas. The story included quotes from Musburger.

When I pointed out to ESPN that Musburger spoke to Big Lead, I was told that this was a different circumstance with the reporter being on campus. OK, whatever.

However, I felt bad there weren’t any Musburger quotes represented in my story. So I wanted to include his sentiments from the Big Lead story here about still being on top of his game in his 70s.

Lisk writes:

Another way that Musburger stays young? He never thinks he has it all figured out. “I guess my father taught me at a very young age. It’s what you learn — after you think you know it all — that matters. And I’ll learn something tonight about one of these kids.” He specifically cites his change in opinion of Andrew Wiggins, a player he thought was unprepared and overhyped at the start of the season, but now sees as ready to start in the NBA.

He also shows off that humor when discussing the pre-game preparation that includes chatting with the officials before the broadcast. “With Bob [Knight], a couple of them would come over, and there might be one go hide in the corner somewhere [laughs]. With Fran, they all come over.”

He didn’t want to talk about how long he could do this, or envision what it would be like to retire. “I’ve been married fifty years now. My wife will tell you it’s more like twenty-five because I’ve traveled so much. I’m not sure that she would be able to tolerate me around the house, 24/7 every day.”

It isn’t work when you love what you do, and Musburger still loves every event. “It’s energizing, and wherever I go, like I spent the week in Vegas doing the Vegas game, got a lot of friends in that town, a lot of people I like to talk to, and, listen, if I wasn’t doing these games, I would be watching them on TV anyway, so why not go out and get paid for it?”

And I loved this passage from Musburger:

“What are the best things you ever do? I hope it’s tonight, I hope that this game goes five overtimes, with a buzzer beater to end it. I’m more interested in how Oklahoma is going to stay in this game from the get go.”

“If—if—I was not interested, you would be conducting this interview over the telephone, with me touring some exotic place with my wife, like Singapore—I throw that out because I’ve got in my mind I might want to go there—and I would not be around. If I was not interested, then I’m not around you, I’m out. The day I say I’m not interested in whatever event I’m covering, then I’m done, okay. I’m out. For me, the biggest thing on my mind is tonight.”

Musburger did not address his future at ESPN with Big Lead. Clearly, though, he isn’t retiring anytime soon. The kid who grew up watching him in Chicago is very thankful for that.

 

Still awesome, babeee! Unprecedented era of 70-and-over announcers/analysts working at top of their games

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I did a piece for USA Today on a remarkable trend: A huge number of announcers/analysts in their 70s who still are working the big games. It is unprecedented in TV history.

An excerpt from the story.

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Dick Vitale turns 75 in June. He has been around so long that sports viewers born in 1979, when he began at ESPN, are veering toward middle age.

Yet Vitale, the former college and NBA coach, has no intention of getting off the thrill ride that has been his sportscasting career. And why should he? When he walks into arenas, the first sight of the familiar bald head sparks cries of “Awesome, Baby!” and “PTPer” from college kids who still devour his shtick the way their parents did at that age.

Vitale absorbs the energy that comes his way as if it would allow him to turn back the clock.

“I never have had a problem relating to young kids,” Vitale said. “I love being around them. They keep you young. If you didn’t tell me I was 74, and if I didn’t look in the mirror, I wouldn’t even know it.”

Vitale is at the forefront of an unprecedented trend in sports television. Long gone is mandatory retirement age, which led to then-CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite leaving the network nine months before his 65th birthday.

For all the talk about catering to the young demographic, there never has been a time with so many announcers and analysts older than 70 who continue to be featured in high-profile sports coverage by the networks.

This year’s Bowl Championship Series title game was called by Brent Musburger, who turns 75 in May, and the soundtrack for the NBA All-Star Game on TV was provided by Marv Albert, 72. Verne Lundquist, 73, works the big Southeastern Conference football games for CBS and on Feb. 23 called Michigan’s basketball victory against Michigan State with Bill Raftery, 70.

The loudest cheers for ESPN’s GameDay studio show on college campuses in the fall are for Lee Corso, 78. And the 70s club will get a high-profile addition in November when Al Michaels celebrates a big birthday.

At the local level, there are numerous team announcers and analysts who continue to thrive into their 70s, preeminently, Los Angeles Dodgers play-by-play man Vin Scully, who signed on for another season at 86. Dick Enberg, 79, has called San Diego Padres games since the 2010 season. The 2013 World Series marked the Fox Sports farewell of Tim McCarver, 72, but he signed to do some St. Louis Cardinals games this year.

Albert insists he doesn’t pay attention to his age. He cracked, “Seventy is the new 68.”

If anything, he contends he is improving with age.

“I feel I’m better now than I ever have been,” Albert said. “You learn so much as you’re doing it. I’m watching tapes, and I’ll see things that get me annoyed and where I know I can improve. I love what I’m doing. As long as I can stay at the same standard, there’s no reason to stop. It feels pretty good.”

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Here is the link to the entire the story.