Driving a grand Torino
Co. produces 900 hours of footage bought by int'l b'casters
The fiftysomething Romero -- who got his start with ABC -- founded Intl. Sports Broadcasting back at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Today, the company is single-handedly producing the 900 hours of Olympic footage bought by international broadcasters. Even NBC relies on Romero for about 85% of its feed; nets in smaller markets lean on him for all of their coverage.
"It's kind of funny that without Manolo Romero, we'd all pretty much be nowhere," says one NBC exec.
From his nondescript office in the back of the city's Main Media Center, Romero has the tricky job of unilaterally deciding the location of hundreds of cameras .
Part mission controller, part evangelist, Romero has to cater to heavy hitters like NBC while spreading Games cheer to smaller Winter Olympics markets (Brazil, anyone?).
He's also under the gun to find the iconic shot that will define the Games -- think Kerri Strug in Bela Karolyi's arms.
It's too early to say where that shot may come from in Torino, but Romero predicts a sleeper.
"Look at Salt Lake in 2002. Curling was the surprise of the Games -- in Great Britain, it was better watched than any other event. Before that I think it was seen by a few Canadians and some people who didn't leave their house."
Romero himself has already brought home some gold. The Intl. Olympics Committee will take over world feed duties starting with Beijing in 2008 -- but they've hired him to run the show. So now he's got the gig without having to compete with assorted other bidders each time.
