Anyone who worked at ABC in New York during the height of its power understood one thing immediately: the network wasn’t a single unified organism. It was two empires sharing the same building. On one side stood ABC News buttoned‑down, globally respected, fiercely territorial. On the other side stood ABC Sports creative, swaggering, innovative, and often treated like the rebellious younger sibling.
Geoff Mason lived at the center of that tension. And in many ways, he helped define it.
A Giant Who Shaped the Sports Side of the Battle
When Geoff Mason passed away on January 25, 2026, the loss reverberated through both sides of the network. But those of us who came up through sports felt it differently. Mason wasn’t just a producer. He was a force of nature who helped ABC Sports stand toe‑to‑toe with the news division during an era when the two departments constantly fought for resources, airtime, and identity.
I spent six seasons directing regional college football for ABC. I also directed regional USFL games during the league’s original run. Those assignments placed me squarely inside the sports division’s world—a world Mason helped build, defend, and elevate. Even if I never sat beside him in a control room, I worked inside the culture he shaped.
Munich: When Sports Took Over the Newsroom
The 1972 Munich Olympics changed everything. ABC News believed global crises belonged to them. ABC Sports believed they could tell any story better. Munich forced the two divisions into the same space, fighting for control of the narrative as the world watched in horror.
And in the middle of that battle stood Geoff Mason.
He was the coordinating producer in the ABC Sports control room when the hostage crisis unfolded. His calm, decisive leadership guided the coverage that would define ABC’s reputation for decades. For one extraordinary moment, ABC Sports didn’t just match ABC News—it surpassed it. Inside the New York headquarters, that shift was felt like a seismic jolt.
A Mentor, a Builder, and a Quiet Warrior
Mason never bragged about winning those internal battles. He didn’t need to. His work spoke for him. He mentored crews, elevated young talent, and built a production culture that valued creativity, precision, and humanity. Those values trickled down to every regional broadcastincluding the college football and USFL games I directed.
Even from afar, you could feel his influence in the way ABC Sports approached storytelling. He made the sports division feel like a family, even when the news division treated it like a rival.
A Legacy Captured on Screen
If you want to understand the pressure he carried, watch the Paramount+ film “September 5”, which dramatizes the Munich crisis. It captures the moment when ABC Sports under Mason’s leadership proved it could handle the gravest story imaginable. It also shows the internal tug‑of‑war that defined ABC’s identity for decades.
A Final Reflection
Geoff Mason didn’t just shape sports broadcasting. He helped shape ABC itself. He fought battles most viewers never saw. He won respect from a news division that rarely gave it. And he left behind a legacy that touched even those of us working regional games far from the New York tower.
