Budding Relationship between WSOP, NBC?
One pairing at the NHUPC drawing party at Pure that might deserve a little attention: WSOP Commish Jeffrey Pollack, who was in attendance to draw a few pairing balls out of the keno hopper, showed up with (and left with) Jon Miller, Executive VP of NBC Sports, and apparently the network’s top acquisitions dealmaker guy.
Pollack and Miller are supposedly longtime pals … and with the WSOP’s contract with ESPN expiring next year, the two sure did seem extra-chummy. And though I’m not sure who would be courting whom, at least one well-informed, scotch-drinking little birdie tells me there’s more going on between the two of them than just a casual one-night hook-up at a Vegas club.
Here they are on the red carpet with what some might say look like bedroom eyes for each other as the two discuss what makes for good poker on TV:
And here (starting at 2:04):
Kevin Mathers says:
March 7th, 2009 at 12:56pm
We could also start up the WSOP at Caesars talk again. Or talk about having WSOP repeats airing on Bravo or one of the other NBC/Universal networks.
BJ Nemeth says:
March 7th, 2009 at 1:09pm
I’m not sure why ESPN is in the headline here; it’s all about NBC and the WSOP. There doesn’t need to be anything wrong with the ESPN/WSOP relationship for any of this to happen, especially with ESPN’s contract expiring soon.
DanM says:
March 7th, 2009 at 1:15pm
Funny BJ, I struggled with that hedline … (and have since changed it) … was just trying to be a little clever with the whole red-carpet-gossip theme.
Man, you show up to do a couple posts, and suddenly we’ve got a new editor around. I see how it goes … LOL.
DanM says:
March 7th, 2009 at 1:19pm
***We could also start up the WSOP at Caesars talk again.***
I doubt that’s really in play. The Rio is clearly a better venue than Caesar’s for a variety of reasons, or at least that seems to have been clearly decided within Harrah’s.
The budding relationship between NBC and the WSOP is based on more than just pure speculation.
(Hey … “pure speculation” … that could make for a clever hedline, too!)