In 1994, Steve Greenberg resigned as deputy commissioner of MLB and partnered with Brian Bedol to launch Classic Sports Network. The independent cable network would air historical sports broadcasts, a strategy most analysts at the time thought was destined to fail.
The partners officially introduced their fledgling network at the 1994 National Cable Show in New Orleans. Classic Sports Network had a small booth in the corner of the showroom, and it likely would have indeed been an afterthought if not for one unique feature: Muhammad Ali.
Bedol and Greenberg had reached Ali through his photographer, and the line for their booth stretched throughout the convention center as hundreds waited for a chance to meet and get a photo with the Champ. Bedol and Greenberg realized they could do more than just shoot some Polaroids for Ali to sign.
“Cable operators wouldn’t meet with a little channel like ours,” Bedol said. “So we actually took film pictures and had them autographed and framed. The only way the cable operators could get them was in person by our salespeople.”
Greenberg recalls seeing evidence of their strategy’s success: “I can’t tell you over the years how many cable operator offices we went into where they had a picture of their wife, their kids, their dog and them with Muhammad Ali.”
Ali also wound up on the company’s Board of Champions, a before-its-time strategy to formalize an athlete advisory group in exchange for company equity. Ali was joined by Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Joe Namath, Mary Lou Retton, Ted Williams and others.
The partners’ thinking was twofold. One, an equity stake would make the athletes feel as if they were part of the team. Two, it was probably worthless anyway.
But those athletes also valued having their legacies preserved. Chamberlain, up late watching an old game of his against Bill Russell, had called the network at 2 a.m. seeking a hard copy. Namath proactively asked about which cable operators he should visit while on the road.
The athletes’ equity wound up having some value after all, when ESPN acquired Classic Sports Network for $175 million in 1997.
“It felt really good, when we sold the business, to send them checks for whatever it was, a couple hundred thousand dollars for their 1%,” Greenberg said. “And by the way, we gave everybody in the company equity, from the lowliest [production assistant] to the head of production. … There really was a sense of pride around Classic Sports that I haven’t experienced at any other business I’ve ever worked at.”
