Darren Rovell: CNBC’s Multi-Beat, Multi-Platform Game-Changer

I was reading an interview that you did with AskMen.com back in 2005 and you were discussing the sort of classic big marquee endorsement deal, or even some of the smaller endorsement deals, and what their future was. Obviously, something like Speedo and Phelps is a no-brainer, but have you seen any changes in some of the smaller deals, like whether people are really examining the return on investment that they get for these things?

I don’t think it’s because of how athletes have acted or anything, but I think that there is more pressure to get return on investment and show return on investment than ever before. The only thing that has really changed that I have never seen in my 10 years in reporting on the business in sports was the marketing backlash that I don’t think many companies did a good job of addressing. Sports marketing got attacked and a lot of people shied away and didn’t show up to tournaments and stuff like that, especially financial services companies. And I think that they shriveled up and got intimidated by the press and everyone saying ‘you shouldn’t be doing this.’

But the reality is that if you spent money to begin with, believing that sports was a valuable asset that would help you achieve your business goals, then why aren’t you there? And why aren’t you shouting – why isn’t Citi, instead of saying ‘we’re donating our boxes’ – why isn’t Citi saying ‘we will stay in our boxes, we believe the Citi Field deal was a good deal, and it will continue to be a good deal, and we have our ROI numbers that maybe we don’t need to share with you.’ Bank of America probably did one of the best jobs by saying – whether you believed them or not – they came out with a number saying that for every $1 they spend on sports they net $3. Well, that’s good! Tell me that! So that’s what’s really been unprecedented. And I think a lot of the little deals – the idea that your CEO does a nice little handshake and you do a deal because of it – those days are done. And the idea of naming rights definitely took a little bit of a hit because of the whole witch hunt, and it brings in the question of what are these naming rights really worth?

We’re at the start of the NFL season and a lot of the underground stories that go along with it – like fantasy sports, and gambling – things that aren’t necessarily always covered because they exist in a sort of gray area. I think you’ve done a good job of drawing attention to those topics and attention to the fact that some 3-point shot at the end of a game can mean a swing of, you know, hundreds of millions of dollars.

Gambling is not covered much, and they’re often the best stories because people don’t realize. And whether it’s a Sasha Vujacic shot or that Chris Duhon shot, I hear about it or see it.

The Duhon story was that I was at a bar – and this is going to be one of the top 10 stories of my career ever – I was at a bar watching Duke-Connecticut and a guy was in a UConn jersey and had just won when the Duhon shot went in. I’m just at a bar in New York, I’m not working, and the guy had his head in his hands and I’m like, ‘uh, you just won, you’re in the finals!’ and then I realize. I didn’t know what the spread was ahead of time, and I asked him and he painfully told me. And it had shifted the spread and I called Vegas. So gambling stories are great.

And I always love when I’m the only one at an event and there’s like 300 journalists and I’m the only one covering one angle. It happens at the Super Bowl. Or, I’m not even at the event and I create the story of the day. I mean, the adrenalin rush from that is great. Cause, if you think about it, how many people can report a story that is part of what went on and break it and make that the story when you’re not there! So that’s going to be an all-time favorite of mine.

I just want to know what the over/under is for how many of those same stories we’re going to get this year about how many man-hours are lost to fantasy football —

(scoffs) Yeah, that’s my one pet peeve.

– that and March Madness – same story every year.

I can’t stand that study.

Glad to hear you won’t be contributing to that one!

No. I mean, hey listen, today I went to Hulu and looked at the Taco Town ad from Saturday Night Live because I needed a laugh. Is that two and a half minutes of lost production? No! I laughed, and I was that much stronger at 2:28pm after getting in at 4:50am.

That’s the thing people don’t realize: the hours. And what you’re doing when you’re not reporting. Yesterday I was at the US Open and I wasn’t on air and then I went to Yankee Stadium and talked to a couple people there and I got home at 10:30 and went to sleep at midnight and then I have to wake up at 4 and be at work at 4:50 tomorrow morning. And then I take a 9pm flight to Pittsburgh tonight, you know, and I’m on the air at 10:10 tomorrow. It really doesn’t – there’s not much sleep in this job. But I love every minute of it – I wake up every morning getting ready to run out the door and hopefully do something different and unique and get the people watching CNBC to think that I made some sort of nice change in their day – maybe a little bit of a surprise from all the other talk.

Photo of Rovell and Phelps courtesy of CNBC; Gatorade shot from the New York Times. Below are a few CNBC clips showcasing Rovell’s unique style, including the Pittsburgh interview with Anthony Noto.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.