NBCUniversal said it has promoted Rick Cordella to president of NBC Sports.

The move follows the departure of NBC Sports chairman Pete Bevacqua, who was tapped to be athletics director for his alma mater Notre Dame earlier this year.

Cordella has been president, programming, NBC Sports and Peacock Sports, playing a key role in the way NBCU allocates its sports assets between traditional TV and streaming. 

In his new role, Cordella will report to Mark Lazarus, chairman of NBCUniversal Media Group, and be responsible for a portfolio including NBC Sports, NBC Olympics, Golf Channel, NBC Sports Digital, Golf Now and SportsEngine. He will also work on the company’s regional sports network strategy and continue to oversee sports on Peacock.

Also Read: How NBC’s Rick Cordella Is Feathering Peacock’s Sports Nest

“Rick has been at the epicenter of NBC Sports for years with a proven track record of growth and innovation across platforms, particularly our flagship NBC network as well as Peacock, where he helped architect our leadership role in sports and streaming,” Lazarus said. “Rick will oversee the evolution of our business as we continue to offer the best experiences and content to our viewers, as well as be the best partner to leagues and rights holders.”

Cordella has been with NBCU since 2006. He was part of the team that started Peacock and served as the streaming service’s chief commercial officer and chief revenue officer. 

He joined NBCU when it acquired AllStar Stats, the parent company of Rotoworld.com.

Streaming service Peacock tonight (December 2) debuts its inaugural Peacock Classic game between the 2021 NCAA men’s college basketball finalists — No.6 Baylor and No. 14 Gonzaga — as it continues its live Spanish-language coverage of the 2022 FIFA World Cup tournament alongside sister NBCUniversal broadcast service Telemundo. 

The events are part of an ever-expanding lineup of live sports programming the streaming service features, including Premier League soccer games, simulcasts of NBC’s NFL Sunday Night Football telecasts and, beginning next year, Big Ten College football and basketball games.

Newly named Peacock Sports and NBC Sports programming president Rick Cordella spoke to Multichannel News about Peacock’s sports strategy, including tonight’s Peacock Classic college basketball event, as well as the streaming service's World Cup performance, which has accounted for a record 26% of Telemundo’s total viewership for the tournament through November 26, according to NBC Sports.

Peacock’s Nov. 26 Argentina-Mexico match was the most streamed FIFA World Cup match in US media history regardless of language, averaging more than 2 million viewers, according to NBC Sports. 

Overall through the first seven days of  the tournament, NBC Sports is averaging  2.57 million viewers across Telemundo, Peacock and Telemundo streaming platforms, which is up 24% compared to the 2018 World Cup tournament, according to Nielsen. 

An edited version of the interview appears below: 

MCN: How did the inaugural Peacock Classic event come about and how does it fit into NBC Sports’ strategy for airing exclusive, live sports content on the streaming service?

Rick Cordella: It came to us as an opportunity. Sports has been an anchor of the Peacock service, and we have one of the widest and deepest sports portfolios of a streamer out there. That includes all of the simulcasts of games we have to offer, the exclusivity of the Premier League, what we're currently doing with the World Cup, what we have for golf, the WWE and all the other various sports. This past summer we completed a Big 10 rights agreement, and with that deal, we're going to have eight or nine football games exclusively on Peacock and another 15 or so on NBC, which will be simulcast on Peacock, as well as 35-plus men's basketball games from the Big 10 in the 2023-24 season. So as we’re getting into college basketball anyway, the [Peacock Classic] is an opportunity for us with Baylor and Gonzaga attached to it. The game also has a NIL (name, image and likeness) component, where the players will promote the game or the service overall. So we're experimenting and we'll see how it goes. I'm excited and hopefully, it’ll be a good game tonight. 

MCN: Is the Peacock Classic franchise something that you’re looking to continue annually? 

RC: For sure. We’re certainly a data-driven organization — if we see the data tonight that says this performed well in terms of driving subscribers, engagement and sponsorship, that’s something we would want to repeat. 

MCN: Do you see college sports content as a driver to bring in younger viewers to Peacock?

RC: Yes. The way I look at it, where the intensity of viewership is high, that's the content that typically resonates on the streamer. Certainly, there’s some lean-back content that’s on broadcast TV that has high numbers, but when you have a World Cup, Premier League or, in this case, college basketball, the fans of those teams and schools are really into the games. Just look at the passion every Saturday afternoon in any given stadium in America — people are really into it. That’s the kind of content we want to bring to Peacock.

MCN: Tonight’s game comes right in the middle of Telemundo’s Spanish-language coverage of the World Cup, which is streaming on Peacock. How have the games performed on Peacock through the first round of the tournament? 

RC: It’s doing remarkably well for us — beyond our expectations, honestly. I think there’s an opportunity here to attract a younger audience that may exist outside of pay TV that didn't have access to this content. Peacock is effectively the exclusive (direct-to-consumer) deliverer of the World Cup, so I think we’re taking advantage of that to a certain degree. We’re seeing great numbers. ■  

Rick Cordella has been named president, programming for NBC Sports and Peacock Sports.

Cordella is rejoining NBC Sports from Peacock, where he was chief commercial officer. He will focus on maximizing distribution on broadcast, cable and streaming, and oversee sports betting and sports fantasy efforts.

NBC Sports also named Tom Knapp executive VP, golf. He was executive VP, programming at NBC Sports Group and executive VP, partnerships & programming at Golf Channel previously.

"We are thrilled to strengthen our leadership team on multiple fronts,” said NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua.

“Rick had a tremendous track record in 13 plus years with NBC Sports and was the architect of multiple NBC Sports Digital platforms before undertaking a central role in the development and launch of Peacock. We are excited to welcome him home to NBC Sports, where he will continue to work closely with the executive team at Peacock, which is integral to the growth of NBC Sports,” Bevacqua said. “ In addition, this move will allow Tom to maintain a singular focus on golf – his area of expertise and deep relationships with the Tours, organizations, and properties – which will greatly benefit our businesses across the industry.” ■

As it takes another step forward in the modern day world of sports, NBC Sports Digital is reaching back in time, name and form.

Named after the Peacock's global anthology franchise from the 1980s, the ad-supported NBC SportsWorld is launching as a microsite within NBCSports.com today with a focus on long-form stories, essays, shorts films and documentaries. NBC SportsWorld will also include select Olympic video from NBC Sports' vast archives. The emphasis on long-form comes in contrast to most of the content fourn on NBCSports.com, which features news and quick reaction articles across the gamut of sports and under specific headings like Pro Football Talk and Hardball Talk.

Rick Cordella, senior vice president and general manager of  digital media at NBC Sports Groupsaid the microsite will be the home of exclusive long-form pieces from NBC Sports Digital’s contributors, including award-winning writer Joe Posnanski, the former Sports Illustrated scribe. Joe Prince-Wright of Pro Soccer Talk and Nick Zaccardi of Olympic Talk. 

There will also be contributions from writers at NBC Sports Group’s other properties, including the NBC Sports Regional Networks, such as CSN Bay Area’s Ray Ratto; GolfChannel.com’s Rex Hoggard, Randall Mell and Jason Sobel

and RotoWorld.

Planned content for NBC SportsWorld’s launch also includes:

• Posnanski has an exclusive, in-depth discussion with Dale Earnhardt Jr. about his life, career and relationship with his father, as he celebrates his 40th Birthday;
• In advance of Sunday night's 49ers-Broncos game, CSN Bay Area senior insider Ray Ratto connects the dots from Joe Montana and John Elway to Colin Kapernick and Peyton Manniing: and
• Prince-Wright profiles Bob Bradley after spending time in Norway with the former U.S. Men's National Team and current Stabaek (Norwegian first division) coach to get a sense of his most recent and ambitious challenge, becoming the first American head coach of a European top-flight club.

The site will also house documentaries and video features produced by the Emmy Award-winning NBC Olympics and Golf Channel Films divisions. At launch, visitors to NBC SportsWorld will find:

·        

*Nancy & Tonya, in which Mary Carillo looks back at the events surrounding the ladies’ figure skating competition at the 1994 Olympic Winter Games with an exclusive sit-down with Nancy Kerrigan and a one-on-one interview with Tonya Harding

*Lokomotiv, narrated by Liev Schreber, which chronicles the tragic events surrounding the crash of an airplane carrying the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), killing 44 of 45 people on board, including 37 players, coaches and staff.

·* Long Way Home: The Jessica Long Story, which profiles Russian-born Jessica Long, a world-class swimmer and 12-time Paralympic gold medalist, who was adopted by American parents as she journeys from the States to Siberia to meet her birth family.

*Arnie, which showcases how golfing legend Arnold Palmer  revolutionized and transcended the game to become one of the most beloved figures in sports history.

*Payne, the story of how golf champion Payne Stewart lived, from the early days when his father guided and influenced him, his first Ryder Cup win, and the tragic end to his life in a lonely field in South Dakota.

"Our SportsTalk strategy of providing readers with quick, impactful news posts multiple times a day has been incredibly successful. However, we will now complement that plan by tapping into NBC Sports Group’s rich history of long-form storytelling,” said Cordella. “NBC SportsWorld will create an immersive experience for our users with deep, thoughtful multimedia pieces written and produced by our talented roster of contributors from all facets of the NBC Sports Group.”