This call to the bullpen is brought to you by NBCUniversal CEO, Steve Burke.
With NBCU sports honcho Dick Ebersol exiting 30 Rock, and former Turner Broadcasting exec Mike Lazarus taking the starting role, a host of NBC Sports executives are wondering when the next shoe will drop.
Ebersol’s No. 2 and longtime associate, Ken Schanzer, hit the showers last week. Schanzer was the lead negotiator for all NBC Sports Group partnerships. He’s unlikely to be the only one asked to hang up his cleats.
On The Money spies suggest keeping a close watch on Mike McCarley, who was also in Ebersol’s inner circle. He relocated in February from 30 Rock to Orlando, Fla., which is home to the Golf Channel.
Execs are also hearing word that Mark Coleman, a former executive at both Fox Sports Net and Golf Channel, and currently an exec at Comcast Programming Group, may be brought up from Triple A for a job at the network.
An NBC Sports spokesman says such speculation is “100 percent inaccurate.”
While it’s clear that the Comcast bosses weren’t exactly encouraging Ebersol to stick around, sources say he felt Burke reneged on an agreement over his next pay package.
Meanwhile, the local affliates are leaning heavily on NBCU brass to make sure they nab rights to the Olympic games in Sochi, Russia in 2014 and Rio De Janeiro, Brazil in 2016.
A source said the stations would be “outraged if the games didn’t come back because the Olympics represent a significant amount of revenue to the affiliates. The Olympics are critical.”
“The Olympics have kept stations alive even as NBC’s primetime has cratered. NBC was down another 15 percent this season, according to Nielsen stats. The Olympics are even more lucrative for NBC than the Super Bowl because of the large number of ad spots across the event,” our spy added.
Claire Atkinson
Einhorn GM
How would new Mets minority owner David Einhorn fare as a baseball owner? Perhaps instead of looking at his record at Greenlight Capital fund, we should check how his fantasy team is faring.
A source in his league says Einhorn’s team is called the “Mad Unicorns” (the name Einhorn in German means unicorn). The Mad Unicorns are in the upper middle of the standings. There are 390 teams in the league and the Mad Unicorns as of last week were in 138th place.
There is no word what Einhorn plans to do at the trade deadline with his team, but perhaps his cash will keep some Amazin’s in the clubhouse come August.
Einhorn is in exclusive talks to buy up to a 49 percent stake in the money-losing Mets. Josh Kosman
Cover me
Throwing tantrums and glasses of wine isn’t very lady-like — but it can help you beat out the likes of Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Lopez and Gisele Bundchen when it comes to fattening your bank account.
Reality TV star Bethenny Frankel (pictured) surpassed those A-listers — as well as film and TV icons Brad Pitt, Will Smith and Jay Leno — by landing on the latest cover of Forbes’ Celebrity 100 issue, where she sits at No. 42 after raking in an estimated $55 million in 2010.
Frankel, 40, who gained recognition in 2008 on Bravo’s “Real Housewives of New York,” has become a ratings machine with her two spin-off shows — “Bethenny Getting Married?” and “Bethenny Ever After” — and is easily the poster girl of reality riches.
The Manhattan entrepreneur is now planning to transform her Skinnygirl brand — a line of products including shapewear, nutritional supplements and skin care products — into a multimillion-dollar business.
In March, she took a huge step toward that reality when she sold the Skinny girl Margarita to Fortune Brands’ Beam Global for $100 million.
When you couple that with her TV salary from Bravo, which insiders peg between $650,000-$700,000 per season, a jump into the Top 25 for next year’s Forbes list isn’t far- fetched.
Joseph Barracato
Liquid assets
Just in time for the Hamptons’ summer share season, Alyssa Becker, a former corporate bond trader, has started a cool business — Hampton Jit ney Packs for summer.
Becker opened a wine bar in Boerum Hill, called Donna da Vine in 2008, and then opened Da Vine Provisions next door, selling craft beer, artisanal cheeses and breads in July.
When customers started asking her about wine, beer and food to take to their Hamptons pads, she figured out a way to satisfy demands.
They can pick from a list of six, or custom-design their own Hampton packs, priced from $25 to $125, that are available for pickup at the store, or for delivery to the Jitney.
Julie Earle-Levine