Seahawks President Peter McLoughlin on Negotiation, Change, Management

Peter McLoughlin (0:00)

I think of a negotiation we did with NBC years ago, where it was really important, as part of this sports negotiation, we were buying baseball, football, NASCAR, et cetera, but the seller really wanted a commitment to prime time television, call it $10 million a year. Well, we weren't in the business of buying prime time television on a long-term basis. And I'll just remember that it didn't seem like we were gonna get a deal done, and I was there with my boss, and I just said, I think what's more important to you than us buying prime time is that $10 million. We'll commit the $10 million.

Every year for the next four years, that's your money. Now, we're gonna agree over time to decide where we spend it. It might be in prime time, might be in late night, might be more sports, might be more NFL. But let's get this deal done. You got the money, but don't commit us to prime time.

Deal got done. We left the room. My boss, my boss, said to me, that was bold.

Michael Gervais (1:01)

Did you overstep?

Peter McLoughlin (1:02)

No, because we came away with the deal.

It's all about doing the deal. You don't get remembered for the deal you lose. You don't accomplish your marketing objectives on the deal you lose. And in the sports industry that I have been in and remain in, if you lose a sports team sponsorship to your competition, you don't lose it for a year. You lose it forever.

Michael Gervais (1:34)

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