Sean J. McManus (born February 16, 1955) is the chairman of

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the sports division of the American television network CBS. Its headquarters are in the CBS Building on W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, with programs produced out of Studio 43 at the CBS Broadcast Center on W ...

and was the president of both

and

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the '' CBS Evening News'', '' CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 4 ...

from 2005 to 2011.

Education and early career

McManus graduated from

Fairfield College Preparatory School Fairfield College Preparatory School (Fairfield Prep) is a Jesuit preparatory school located on the campus of Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. It is an all-male school of about 700 students, founded by the Society of Jesus in 1942 ...

, a private Jesuit high school in

Fairfield, Connecticut Fairfield is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. It borders the city of Bridgeport and towns of Trumbull, Easton, Weston, and Westport along the Gold Coast of Connecticut. Located within the New York metropolitan ar ...

, and

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist Jam ...

. In 1977, McManus began working as a production assistant and associate producer at

ABC Sports ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Televisi ...

. In 1979, he moved to

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its ...

and in 1982, aged 27, he became its vice-president of program development. Here he first became involved in rights negotiations, for sports such as the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a multi ...

, football, tennis, basketball, horse racing and auto racing. In 1987, he became a senior vice president of American TV sales and programming for

Trans World International IMG, originally known as the International Management Group, is a global sports, events and talent management company headquartered in New York City. It has been owned by Endeavor since 2013. Trans World International (TWI) is an event and pro ...

, the television division of sports marketing firm

International Management Group IMG, originally known as the International Management Group, is a global sports, events and talent management company headquartered in New York City. It has been owned by Endeavor since 2013. Trans World International (TWI) is an event and pro ...

Career at CBS

McManus was named president, CBS Sports, in November 1996. Here, he continued to be active in negotiating broadcast rights deals for major American sports, such as the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

, the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

, the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

and Southeastern Conference (SEC) football and basketball. He also oversaw a logo redesign for CBS Sports, and rebranded CSTV's cable and digital businesses as CBS College Sports Network in 2008, and as CBS Sports Network in 2011. He co-launched the digital network CBS Sports HQ in 2018, and supervised several

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the gam ...

broadcasts, including

Super Bowl XLVII Super Bowl XLVII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion ...

Super Bowl LIII Super Bowl LIII was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2018 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots defeated the National Football Confe ...

, and

Super Bowl 50 Super Bowl 50 was an American football game to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2015 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) cha ...

. McManus was named president, CBS News, in October 2005, and continued to serve concurrently as president of sports. As president of news, he oversaw building of a new newsroom and control room in New York and created the series '' CBS Reports: Children of the Recession''. He is executive producer of '' Inside the NFL'' on Showtime.

Awards

McManus has won 15

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

and the Cynopsis Sports Media Legacy Award. He was inducted into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame in 2010 and the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2016.

Personal life and family

McManus is the son of sportscaster Jim McKay (Jim McKay's legal surname was McManus).Kelly, Jacques. "Margaret Dempsey McManus dies at 89," ''The Baltimore Sun'', Friday, October 16, 2009.
/ref> He lives in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the ...

with his wife and children.

References

External links

CBS biography of Sean McManus
1955 births Living people People from Fairfield, Connecticut American television executives Duke University alumni Paramount Global people CBS executives Presidents of CBS Sports Presidents of CBS News 20th-century American businesspeople Fairfield College Preparatory School alumni {{US-tv-bio-stub