During my week at ESPN’s campus in Bristol, I was fortunate enough to spend some time with Senior Vice President of ESPN Audio Mo Davenport. He is responsible for national sales revenue, audio and digital marketing strategy, and network content for ESPN Audio. Mo has been honored as one of the most influential minorities in both sports and cable during his 29 year career at ESPN. I was able to ask him a wide range of question during our time together.
On the biggest changes he’s seen during his time at ESPN:
“More buildings. Lots of construction. There was a joke around here that if you didn’t see a trailer that meant that ESPN stopped growing so we continue to find ways to get trailers on campus so that we can house people while construction is going on like with our temporary ESPN cafeteria. One of things you can check to see if ESPN is topping out is how many trailers we have on campus. I remember when there was just ESPN and there was the biggest debate about launching ESPN2. The prevailing thought was 24 hours of sports, that’s a lot. No one would ever watch more than that and then ESPN2 came along, then ESPN News came along. We found different smart and new ways to deliver content to sports fans and thats where the serving sports fans(ESPN’s mission) really took hold. We always served sports fans but we figured out that they had different appetites, whether its college with ESPNU or audio with ESPN Radio, ESPN the Magazine, and certainly all of the digital properties.”
On his previous role as VP of Remote Production for non-professional sports and the excitement they bring:
“I oversaw production for college sports. College baseball, college basketball with both men’s and women’s tournament, and certainly college football all the way through the bowl games and BCS. You can see the growth of the CWS from the time at Rosenblatt Stadium to the new park. It’s events like that and the Little League World Series that make you appreciate the beauty of sports. Those are great events and great settings. Most times sports are so serious at the professional level that it’s sometimes nice to watch a Little League World where the kids aren’t looking for endorsements. Or the College World Series. I am particularly proud of our women’s basketball tournament coverage. When we started out that wasn’t a very big event at all and the young ladies were playing hard and well. They needed exposure for people to start to like the event. I think we did a good job of presenting it.”
On recent accomplishments in ESPN Audio that he is proud of:
“I am really proud of the content. I’m proud of the content that Mike and Mike pump out on a daily basis, that the show can be 15 years old and still compelling every morning. Most days I’m happy about what Colin’s talking about. (Laughs) There are days where he colors slightly outside the lines. We are real pleased with the growth of Van Pelt and Russillo. That show is starting to gain traction particularly on the satellite and digital side of the house. Dan Le Batard is as smart and funny as anyone. In terms of pure radio talent he is probably one of the best. I am also really proud of how we have taken big events like golf and soccer to bring it to an audio audience. Four years ago, when I said to our affiliates that we are going to offer up World Cup soccer from South Africa, they said yeah right. As it turns out, not only was there an appetite for it but a strong appetite digitally and on some of the other platforms here. Then it just blew up this year. If you want to be connected to a golf tournament, the World Cup, a BCS game, or playoff game you can be because not only are we providing great daily content but also the big events that people want to consume.”
On upcoming things within ESPN Audio that he could tell me about:
“The entire company is excited about 2 or 3 things. The biggest one is the College Football Playoff. Thats going to be the biggest thing to hit the sports world since a Super Bowl. If you look at the World Series or NBA Finals, this will be that type of seismic event. Then the launch of the SEC Network. It’s fast approaching. The Audio team was part of recruiting Paul Finebaum (August 2013) and bringing him in, then getting his radio show going. The show will be nationally televised on the SEC Network and you can hear it on Sirius XM which is also has a 40-45 affiliate list mainly in the South due to his SEC ties.”
On his personal favorite sport and other events that have stuck out to him:
“Over you left shoulder that is a yellow jersey from the Tour de France and thats my favorite event. ESPn did that for a number of years before the Outdoor Life Network got the rights to it but in terms of a single event that captivated a country it was unparalleled That was during the era when Lance Armstrong was the good Lance Armstrong and all that. There was no event that was quite like that. To have ESPN have it and be able to produce shows and show some of the content it was tremendously exciting. It doesn’t hurt that you go to France to cover it. The French are very good at putting on a big event and providing world class accommodations. It’s still the most grueling thing Ive done. I have never seen athletes as fast and as talented as the National Championship game between Texas and USC. Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Vince Young and the crew. I was on the sidelines at the Rose Bowl and remember saying this is a professional game being played in college uniforms. I was at Pebble Beach when Tiger won by 15 strokes. That was something to see, there was electricity on the golf course for four consecutive days. Everyone was playing for second place and Tiger was playing for Tiger. I’m fortunate though to have gone to so many events. At the end of the day I’m true to ESPN’s mission of serving sports fans so what you remember more is the production of the events.”
On his role in ESPY day to benefit the V Foundation:
“Our President John Skipper worked with out former President to challenge us to rethink how we looked at fundraising in and around the ESPYs and the V Foundation. So I was part of and probably considered the leader of a committee that went around and thought about ways that we could improve and change. So we came up with the idea of ESPYs day which was a little like our approach to way we did the last BCS game between Florida State and Auburn where we had content on ESPN, ESPN2, complimentary content on ESPNU and .com. We took that model and said what if we did content around the ESPYs where we did vignettes telling stories and do a ton with social? Lets also dedicate a channel and use the Bottomline to drive donations to really upgrade the experiences. Going out and asking someone like Mark Cuban to donate tickets and would he be willing to sit court side with someone and bring them in the Mavericks family and take them behind the scenes. That particular experience went for $47,000. We worked with the NFL to do a gigantic sweepstakes around the Super Bowl. The winner of that gets to watch us do show, go to the ESPN parties, a tailgate, which is really conducive to a big event like that. Then we went out and solicited big donations with the Center for Cancer stepping up with a $4 Million donation. We took something that did a little north of $1,000,000 dollars and turned it into something that $6.5 million in this one at-bat. it was not just me. I was part of the team but it was all parts of the company, production, sales, marketing, Bottomline. It was something very good to be a part of. if you take anything away from all of this though, it’s not about ESPN but about the donations and helping people for cancer research. That’s what is important.”
On plans to bring the big coverage from the BCS title game last year to anything else:
“It would have to be the right event. A big event that could truly benefit by having multiple pieces of ESPN coordinate all their content. So clearly, the playoff and National Championship Game could be one of those types of events. Then you look at, help us get World Cup back in four years and we could do something around that.”
Thank you to Mo for taking the time to sit with me and answer my questions and Mike and Diane for making it happen.