Sunny Isles Beach, FL — Michael Pearl is being recognized by Continental Who’s Who as a Top Executive for his talents, exceptional contributions, and successes in the Sports Media & Television industry.
In spearheading and producing some of the most
highly-rated sports-television franchises and sports telecasts, Mr. Michael
Pearl has garnered a well-deserving reputation as an iconic legend in the
sports media and television industry. After having studied mass communications
and media studies at the University of Miami for three years, Mr. Pearl had
been offered valuable opportunities to intern for newspapers, radio stations,
and television stations alike. Subsequently, he broke into the television
business as a reporter at WTVJ Miami in 1968, which led him to garner more than
four decades of professional excellence at five networks.
Soon after landing a job at CBS Sports in 1975, Mr. Pearl is proud to have
revamped the format of The NFL Today and added on-air talent Brent Musburger,
Irv Cross, Phyllis George, and Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder. The pregame show,
which Mr. Pearl produced for four years, proved to be the beginning of an
18-year run as the highest-rated program in its timeslot (until the network lost
its NFL rights in 1994) and paving the way for countless studio shows to
follow.
Additionally, Mr. Pearl has proudly served as a producer, executive producer,
and senior vice president consultant of numerous broadcasting networks. As a
producer, he worked the front bench for CBS broadcasts of Super Bowl X, XII,
and XIV, as well as the first live wire-to-wire coverage of the Daytona 500 in
1979. Pearl also headed up production on the CBS Sports Spectacular anthology
series.
In 1980, Mr. Pearl joined them team at ABC, where he
would spend eight years and produce the Super Bowl XIX and XXII, Monday Night
Football, the Indianapolis 500 (three times), the New York City Marathon, and
ABC’s Wide World of Sports. Mr. Pearl also served as producer at the 1984 Sarajevo
Winter Olympics, 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, and 1988 Calgary Winter
Olympics. These Olympic events helped define his career throughout the ’80s and
’90s. In 1987, while at ABC, Mr. Pearl took home horseracing’s highest honor,
the Eclipse Award, for producing the all three legs of the Triple Crown.
Following this, he returned to the Tiffany Network, serving as coordinating
producer of CBS Sports’ coverage of the 1992 Albertville and the highest rated
Olympics, the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics.
Later, Mr. Pearl served as the SVP/executive producer at Turner Sports, where
he oversaw all production of NFL, Atlanta Braves baseball, NASCAR, figure
skating, golf, Wimbledon, and college football, as well as Turner’s cable
coverage of the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. His biggest accomplishment in this
role was his revamp of NBA on TNT, which led him to garner a
nine-time-Emmy-winning studio show and create one of sports television’s most
incendiary and popular stars: Inside the NBA and Charles Barkley.
Mr. Pearl rejoined ABC Sports as Senior VP/Executive producer in the middle of
2003. During his years at ABC, Mr. Pearl
oversaw production of Monday Night Football (as well as Super Bowl XL), the BCS
National Championship, the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the Open Championship, the
Indianapolis 500, and the World Figure Skating Championships. He also continued
to work his magic behind the mic, introducing the three-man ABC Golf booth of
Mike Tirico, Nick Faldo, and Paul Azinger as well as anointing Al Michaels and
Doc Rivers as the network’s top NBA announce team. Following the merger of ESPN
and ABC Sports operations in 2005, Pearl continued to oversee special projects
for ESPN and Disney, including a bid for the 2014 and 2016 Olympics.
Active in his field, Mr. Pearl maintains affiliations with several professional
organizations including the University of Miami Alumni Association, Alzheimer’s
Association, ABC Alumni Association, CBS Alumni Association, and the National
Association of Broadcasters.
As a testament to his professional excellence, Mr. Pearl has received numerous
awards and accolades throughout his career. He was named to the Sports
Broadcast Hall of Fame in 2015 and received 16 Emmy Awards. In 1987, while at
ABC, Pearl took home horseracing’s highest honor, the Eclipse Award, for
producing all three legs of the Triple Crown.
Although semi-retired, Mr. Pearl continues to build his legacy. Since 2015, he
has been a consultant through his production company, Michael Pearl
Productions.
