A few months ago, I had the chance to sit down with George and discuss everything from his start in the business (as a guy in the mail room at ESPN) to his sons’ affinity for high school football. My original piece on him was a human interest story for the paper. I wanted to wait to publish the interview on this site until college basketball was back in play (when it would see more readers). We did the interview under the pretense that what I reported was both for the newspaper I work for and this Web site.

“Just be fair and be honest,” he said to me in a genuine-yet-aware tone. Understandable. When I told him I was not only a sportswriter but also a blogger, he hardly wavered; he broached the subject with an open mind, honestly.

Before we get to the interview, let me give you a little background on Bodenheimer: He is a very paced and thoughtful man. He loves his job at ESPN and has no plans on retiring any time soon. During the course of our interview he seemed interested in what I had to say and took time to answer each question. He’s also protective of his family and his personal space; he turned down my offer to interview him at his house, opting instead to meet at a coffee shop that sells pistachio muffins for almost seven bucks a pop; I requested a photo of him with his wife and/or family, and received this one. Nevertheless, he met me at 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning, his hair still slick form his morning shower and wearing an outfit that I could identify with. Living in one of the wealthiest towns in America and being the president of both ESPN and ABC Sports, Bodenheimer comes off as anything but flashy.

Fast-forward to Thanksgiving: I had to cover a high school football game with huge implications — Darien vs. New Canaan. Many a known name in sports was at the county title game, which brought nearly 10,000 people (a record). Bodenheimer, despite his son being sidelined all season with a back injury, sat in the stands, cheered on his son’s team. Armen Keteyan was there (I don’t know why, but many media people live in or near Darien and/or New Canaan) — he patrolled the sidelines, sans microphone. But Bodenheimer sat, watched the game, milled about on the field after New Canaan won 28-20, his son James celebrating with teammates. It was a cool scene, though I didn’t want to approach Bodenheimer amid the chaos; it was his time to relish a winning moment with his family.

Disclaimer: Bodenheimer discusses ESPN and the televising rights to The Tournament somewhere down the road. (How timely, given ESPN and the criticism it’s received for claiming the BCS.) Both Bodenheimer and CBS president Sean McManus are friends and live in New Canaan.

The interview with one of the most powerful men in sports is after the jump.

CHJ: What are your feelings about Internet sites that are now getting a lot of readership? Specifically, the ones that like to pick apart and poke at all ESPN does wrong?

George Bodenheimer: I think there’s no point in being for or against blogs. They’re a part of the world that we now live in. We certainly read them, monitor them. You know, I think any criticism you get or any comments you get — good or bad — you want to listen to. We don’t ignore any criticism we get on the company. If we think they’re valid, we move to correct them. If we don’t, we ignore them. It’s as simple as that. But to sit here and put your head in the sand when you’re the leader in the business, and to think you won’t get criticized for what you do is irresponsible. So I’ll take input from anywhere, anybody, anytime. So blogs are now a part of that mix. Good, bad or indifferent, I think the obvious aspects of the blog world is that. And there’s no barrier entry anymore. I think you have to take some of it [the reaction of blogs] with a grain of salt; it takes a lot of hard work to produce a great product year after year after year.

There are many polarizing figures at ESPN, and so much criticism — and praise — coming from not only blogs, but media-watchdog columns around the country. So what is it like to be the president of a company which seems to be targeted each week?

GB: It’s not an easy job, but it’s a job I love to do. As a company, we strive to deliver a product for sports fans, and everyone who works at the company is a sports fan. I think it’s that passion that helps us deliver a product that so many different kinds of sports fans can involve themselves in. … You can’t please everybody, but we’ve covered almost every sport you could imagine. It wasn’t always like this: We were an underdog through the mid-1980s. Now that we’ve put ourselves in the position we’re in, we take the good with the bad. And, in my opinion, there’s much, much more good that we do for the world of sports and its fans.

What about the NCAA tournament? Are there any long-term plans for ESPN to get that down the road? Or is it locked down with CBS? Some fans are unsure of the contract lengths and what goes into getting broadcast rights.

GB: You know, we televised the tournament long before anybody thought of televising the early-round games. It’s one of the things that catapulted ESPN in the mid-1980s. And we have an extremely deep relationship with the NCAA. … We televise every game of the women’s tournament, we get the Frozen Four, the lacrosse tournament … we would love to get back into the men’s tournament — and perhaps with CBS, somehow. They’re a fine company and we do many things with them, like sharing the Masters. We love college hoops. It’s a staple at ESPN for a quarter, and it’s a great tournament and a great sport.

It is. Some have said that your college basketball-themed version of GameDay is nearly as good as the college football one with Fowler, Corso and Herbstreit. I think Rece Davis and Jay Bilas could be some of the best on-air talent at the network, and everyone feels one way or another about Digger Phelps.

GB: We love taking our programs around the country throughout the school year and showing the country the enthusiasm that exists on college campuses. I’ve loved what has happened with GameDay and the success we’ve had with it in both basketball and football. Football has been around for longer, but basketball has developed a following and has proven to be a great decision.

In 2002, ESPN became the first network to be contracted with the four majors sports at one time. How has ESPN maintained its threshold atop the mountain? Surely other competitors have come and gone, and more will try.

GB: People use the word “access,” and a number of people at ESPN have access — and it’s an an all-time high. Our users are getting more access, too. People think the Internet is going to kill television, just like they used to think television would kill movie theaters. Last time I looked there was still plenty of theaters around. The business has continued to grow and ESPN has grown along with it. That’s why we’ve entered all these mediums and we’ve got the number one sports site, that’s why we’re in the print space with ESPN: The Magazine. That’s why we’re in the audio business. People think radio is dead. ESPN Radio is the largest sports network in the United States and continues to grow.

Can you talk about ESPN’s move to Los Angeles? When is it happening and what will it entail?

GB: We’re building a cutting-edge technology center there, adjacent to the Staples Center, that we call “L.A. Live,” and it’s going to be in this beautiful new development; it’s part of a rejuvenation for that part of Los Angeles. And it’ll part of an ESPNZone there, which will be opening in the fall. The studio space will open in the first quarter of 2009, and we’re going to produce the late show of SportsCenter there. Also, that studio space is going to give us an opportunity to produce other shows there, which haven’t determined what that will be. It will likely be activity for ESPN Deportes, given Los Angeles’ huge Hispanic market. I’m very excited about it.

Why the shift to L.A. now? Wasn’t there rumors before about ESPN moving its headquarters to New York?

GB: Well, you read a lot of things. The reality is Bristol has been our home since 1979 and we have never, ever considered leaving our home. And as we’ve grown, obviously, we’ve looked to expand in different markets. We have a huge presence in New York already given its media and financial districts. But that’s why it’s a good idea to plant a flag in Los Angeles, the number two television market in the country. It’s also home to our parent company, Disney.

Aside from the L.A. project, what’s something on the backburner that you, ESPN, are considering to bring out?

GB: We’re continuing to focus our expansion outside the United States. We have great business already established in Latin America, Asia and Europe. Canada, too. In the next 10 years, I see a lot of growth internationally for ESPN. In addition, all things digital: The Internet has great opportunities for us to continue to grow. ESPN 360, the broadband product, is growing and it feels like ESPN in 1979 all over again.

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