As the longtime head of CBS Sports, Sean McManus looked a lot to the future of the division he ran for nearly three decades, as he also paid close attention to its day-to-day operations. So, it was not surprising that he had a couple of things in mind when he first met and then interviewed in the summer of 2010 a top programming executive at ESPN named David Berson.
For starters, McManus needed someone to run what was then called CBS College Sports, a cable venture within the division that had initially focused on collegiate athletics but evolved into more of a mainstream sports service.
But in the back of his mind, McManus had also started thinking about his successor.
“An executive search firm had recommended David to us, and I talked to him after he had seen Human Resources,” McManus said. “Our meeting went extremely well.”
So well, in fact, that some months later, CBS, which is part of Paramount Global, hired Berson to be executive vice president of CBS Sports as well as president of CBS College Sports. He officially assumed those positions in January 2011.
“Soon after David started, it became clear that he was one day going to lead CBS Sports,” McManus said. “And in fairly short order, he became my confidant in everything I did.”
Then in June 2013, a mere 2½ years after Berson had joined the network, McManus tapped him to become president of the division, which presents each season the Masters, PGA Championship and roughly two-thirds of the primary PGA Tour/FedEx Cup season, including this week’s 3M Open. In addition, CBS also carries NFL football and the annual NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament, better known as March Madness.
That made Berson his No. 2 as well as his eventual successor.
Almost immediately, McManus began grooming him to take over.
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