Q/A with Ted Turner: Changed landscape of sports on TV; Receives overdue Sports Emmy Lifetime Achievement honor

The Sports Emmys were Tuesday night in New York. It is the big annual gathering of broadcasters and sports executives as they celebrate the year in TV sports. You always have to be careful because you might get hit with someone’s ego.

Yet last night, all of these superstars and mega power brokers were dwarfed by one man: Ted Turner.

Turner was this year’s recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. In the announcement, NATAS chairman Malachy Wienges said, “The world of sports and news television has been forever changed by the vision of this one man.”

Indeed, before Turner changed the world TV news and journalism with CNN, he altered the landscape of sports on television. In 1970s, his move in airing Atlanta Braves and Hawks games on WTBS was a forerunner for ESPN and other sports cable networks, national and local, serving fans a 24/7 menu of games, sports news, talk and analysis.

Previous winners of the Lifetime award have included Jim McKay, Dick Ebersol, Howard Cosell, and Pat Summerall, to name a few. When it came time to award this year’s recipient, many on the panel had assumed Turner already had received the honor.

“The initial thought we had was, ‘Why didn’t we think of this before?” said CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus. “When his name was brought up, it was instantaneous. Of course. Look at what he’s done in the world of sports. It was a no brainer.”

McManus then added, “Ted Turner is the kind of person for whom Lifetime Achievement awards are created.”

Turner Sports President David Levy called Turner a true visionary.

“He said, ‘Content is king’ before anyone else said content is king,” Levy said. “He realized sports were a huge part of that content. He really understood the business better than anyone else.”

I had a chance to conduct a Q/A with Turner via email:

Why did you view sports (the Braves and Hawks) as such an important vehicle for WTBS?

Turner: We needed viewers, and Atlanta sports teams came with built-in audiences.  Fans wanted to see the Braves play, and were willing to buy UHF antennas if necessary.  Once they had the antennas, we knew that people would watch not only the Braves, but our other programming as well.

What kind of reaction did people have when you decided to air all the Braves games from coast-to-coast? Eventually, MLB fought you over territorial issues, but early on, did people think you were crazy?

Turner: Sure, people thought I was crazy. But, I knew it would help our ratings, and I was right.  Once the Braves became known as “America’s Team”, my critics stopped calling me “crazy”.

Were you surprised that the games became so popular and that the Braves became America’s Team?

Turner: The Atlanta Braves were initially a losing team, so I really didn’t see airing their games outside of the Atlanta market as a threat to other franchises.  But, I was wrong.  A lot of people didn’t like the idea, but it proved to really pay off for us by increasing ratings and the Braves’ fan base.

What impact did your decision to air Braves games on TBS eventually have on the sports TV landscape?

Turner: It definitely paved the way for ESPN and similar networks because the idea of being able to watch and follow teams of your choosing, regardless of geography, was now possible.  People enjoy having a choice in entertainment – whether it be news, sports or other programming.

This year, Turner Sports aired its first Final Four games. How does that make you feel? Could you ever have imagined your network landing these games way back when?

Turner: I think it’s great.  It’s incredible how far Turner Sports has come over the years, and it’s grown even more in recent years.  Turner Sports has proven itself as a major player, and it gives me great pride to have started it.