NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua Exits for Job at Notre Dame

Alex Weprin
·3 min read
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In a major shake-up in the TV sports world, NBC Sports group chairman Pete Bevacqua will leave the company to become the athletic director for Notre Dame.

Bevacqua, a 1993 graduate of the university, joined NBC Sports as its president in 2018. He previously served as CEO of the PGA of America.

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At Notre Dame he will succeed the longtime AD Jack Swarbrick. He will officially start in his new role next year.

“Sometimes in life, someone gets an opportunity to take their ‘Dream Job”’ and today I’m writing to share the news that NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua will be leaving our Company to take his dream job,” wrote NBCUniversal TV and streaming chief Mark Lazarus in a memo to staff Thursday. “He will remain a friend to all of us, and now also becomes a partner, as we’ve been in business with Notre Dame since 1990, and we will continue to be, hopefully well into the future.”

Lazarus added that Bevacqua’s direct reports will now report to him.

NBC is the TV home for Notre Dame Fighting Irish football, an unusual agreement in the college football world, which is built around divisions like the SEC and PAC 10. In its announcement, Notre Dame suggested that Bevacqua will help the Indiana-based university figure out how to navigate the increasingly complex world of sports rights.

“Bevacqua will bring world-class leadership and high acumen to the rapidly changing landscape of live and on-demand sports content and sports management,” the university said.

“This is an unbelievable honor for me and a dream come true. With the exception of my family, nothing means more to me than the University of Notre Dame,” Bevacqua said in a statement. “As a Notre Dame alum, I have a keen understanding and deep appreciation of the lifetime, transformational benefit our student-athletes receive in a Notre Dame education, one that is unique and unlike any other institution in the world. I am so grateful to Father Jenkins, the Board of Trustees and, of course, Jack Swarbrick. Jack has become a true friend over the course of the past several years and I am looking forward to working alongside him and learning as much as I can from the person I admire and respect the most in college athletics.”

His departure comes a year out from the critical 2024 Olympics in Paris, and amid a tumultuous moment for NBCU.

In April, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell was terminated following a misconduct investigation, with Comcast president Mike Cavanagh assuming his duties on an interim basis. There is no indication that Comcast is actively seeking a replacement for Shell.

Just a few weeks later, NBCU’s head of ad sales Linda Yaccarino left in dramatic fashion just days before the upfronts to become the CEO of Twitter. Her direct reports also now report to Lazarus.

In fact, with Lazarus now adding sports and ad sales oversight, he has taken over a good chunk of NBCU’s portfolio.

Read Lazarus’ memo, below.

Team, 

Sometimes in life, someone gets an opportunity to take their “Dream Job”, and today I’m writing to share the news that NBC Sports Chairman Pete Bevacqua will be leaving our Company to take his dream job.

Later today, Pete will be named the Director of Athletics at the University of Notre Dame.  Anyone who knows Pete will tell you that other than his family, Notre Dame is his next greatest love, and now he has been given the opportunity to have a huge impact on their storied sports programs and the institution in general. 

He will remain a friend to all of us, and now also becomes a partner, as we’ve been in business with Notre Dame since 1990, and we will continue to be, hopefully well into the future. We want to thank Pete for his many contributions to NBC Sports and NBCUniversal since he joined us in 2018, including acquiring the Big Ten, helping to extend our NFL and PGA Tour deals, and many other accomplishments. 

Pete will stay with NBC Sports until the end of June, and begins his duties at Notre Dame shortly thereafter.

Please join me in congratulating Pete and wishing him great success.

In the near term, Pete’s direct reports will report to me.

Sincerely, 

Mark

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