MANOLO ROMERO

There aren’t many sports-production professionals or engineers who are known in nearly every corner of the globe. And there are even fewer who are known by their first name. But, for the tens of thousands of broadcast professionals who have worked on the Olympic Games in recent decades, there is only one Manolo: Manolo Romero, who was CEO or general director for the host operations on 10 Olympic Games, beginning in 1992. And, as each Olympics production grew in technical complexity, helping popularize formats like HDTV or stereo (or even color TV) on a global scale, Romero played a part in turning promise into reality.

“Manolo had to all but invent the host-broadcast concept in 1982 for World Cup and for ABC in Los Angeles and then, in reality, in 1992 in Barcelona,” said David Mazza, SVP/ CTO, NBC Sports and Olympics and Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer. “He is the driving force behind modern Olympic coverage.”

Romero, who passed away in 2022, boasted a career defined by working with the likes of Mazza and others to make sure the host-broadcast feed meets the needs of a global sportsdistribution and -production community that sometimes has very different capabilities but always has a wide range of budgets. Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) was able to sit in the middle and create a rising tide that lifted the quality of Olympics coverage for sports fans everywhere.

His career began in 1965 when he landed a job in the engineering department of Spanish TV network TVE. While there, he was appointed chair of an EBU working group focused on how to exchange TV programs internationally via satellite, a role that would lay the foundation for a future in which he would work with dozens of broadcasters on the world’s biggest sports event.

“I was able to work with many international broadcasters as we tried to set up common standards for transmission,” Romero said, “and that helped me as I needed to learn how to make sure they understood me. But also I understood them; I got to see how things were done in other parts of the world.”

In 1982, Romero oversaw Spanish Television operations at the World Cup which was held in Spain. And, in 1984, he would work ABC as director of European Operations and head of the international operations for the 1984 Olympics.

The 1984 Los Angeles Games essentially gave birth to the hostbroadcast model: ABC Sports had its own IBC, and the international broadcasters had theirs. The IOC liked the result because rightsholders were able to more easily get the type of coverage they desired.

In 1994, Romero organized a new company called European Sports International. Owned by the EBU, it covered the 1994 World Cup in the U.S. In 1996, he followed that up by overseeing them for the Atlanta Olympics and, in 1997, established International Sports Broadcasting, serving as president/CEO. Under his leadership, ISB was host broadcaster for the 1999 World Alpine Skiing Championship in Vail and both the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Games and the 2004 Athens Olympic Games (it was also host broadcaster for the Paralympics in Salt Lake City, Athens, and Torino).

“He was in charge of the whole operation and host-broadcaster organization,” said Terry Ewert, former coordinating producer and head of production, Atlanta Olympic Broadcasting, NBC Olympics, “and I found his feed to be exceptional, like everything that he produced.”

Tom Sahara, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer and former,

VP, operations and technology, Turner Sports, worked on the 1996 Atlanta Games and worked closely with Romero. “Attention to every detail is just one of the many lessons that Manolo taught those of us who worked for him,” he said. “He demanded that we perform as well as the athletes. In many ways, we were his Olympians.”

In 2003, Romero was named CEO of OBS and in 2006 was responsible for the successful broadcast of the Torino Winter Games, serving as CEO of the Torino Olympic Broadcasting Organisation (TOBO).

For the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Romero and the OBS team were responsible for the successful production of more than 5,000 hours of television coverage, all provided in high definition and 5.1 surround sound, marking a first in Summer Games broadcast coverage.

Through it all, Romero was front and center at development of key technologies, such as the move to color TV, solid-state cameras, digital tape formats, tapeless workflows, HDTV, SDI, and UHD as OBS and rightsholders around the globe ensured that the Olympics always lead the way in innovation.

Peter Diamond, EVP, Olympic programming, NBC Olympics, saw Romero’s innovation as part of what makes OBS extraordinary. “He brought the Olympics to viewers around the world in ways that were never seen before and in ways that could only be imagined.”

Romero retired after the 2012 London Games, but his influence will carry on forever. Current CEO Yiannis Exarchos cited Romero’s work ethic, total commitment, human warmth, and capacity to solve problems while innovating as the bar OBS tries to clear every day as it gears up for the next Olympics.

“He could deliver for today while constantly thinking of new ways of improving the experience for viewers,” Exarchos said. “That is the measure by which I evaluate myself and our team every single day.”

David Hill, former Fox Sports chairman and Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer, summed Romero up this way: “The Olympic Games in the years since Manolo and OBS took over stand as a permanent legacy to his brilliance. He truly is a giant.” – Ken

Kerschbaumer