299: Tom Odjakjian on Scheduling Sports for TV and What Makes A Good Leader

Joe leads us into the Holidays with his friend Tom Odjakjian for a deep dive into sports scheduling and how it has changed with the growth of broadcast media. Tom shares how he got his start in sports media, getting a  job at a young ESPN and growing the network’s live sports portfolio through college sports. Tom takes us through the details of building a television schedule and the complications that come with reaching out to schools individually. He shares what he believes is “the most important decision he ever made” as well as some dream college basketball games he tried to schedule but never could. The two also explore what makes a good leader and the different qualities found across the best bosses they’ve had. The CUSP Show is a production by the faculty of Sports Management at Columbia University. You can get in touch with the program on Twitter @CU_SPS_Sports. The CUSP Show is hosted by Joe Favorito (@Joefav) and Tom Richardson (@ConvergenceTR). The show is produced by Yash Agarwal ‘22 (@yashagarwall655), Matt Hornick ‘23 (@MNHornick), and Cindy Li ‘23 (@cindyliiiii), with Jillian Quinn ‘22 (@JillianMQuinn) and Marco Vonderheide ‘23 managing social media efforts.

Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-odjakjian-405b87/