Mark Gross is senior vice president, production and remote events, a position he assumed in January 2014. In that role, is responsible for ESPN's cross-platform coverage of MLB, college and Little League baseball, combat sports, tennis and hockey. Additionally, he is responsible for the event production strategy for ESPN+ and new content initiatives like eSports, as well as oversight of the Stats & Information Group. He also lists content strategy oversight of fantasy and gambling among his responsibilities.
His previous role was senior vice president and executive producer, production (since September 2010) where his responsibilities included management and oversight for SportsCenter, ESPNEWS network, college sports (event and studio), NBA (event and studio), NFL studio programming, Little League World Series, and the content integration and production wrap unit. He also had oversight of ESPN's talent office.
Previously, Gross held the position of senior vice president and managing editor, studio production from December 2005, responsible for overseeing all studio production for ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNEWS. His responsibilities included the studio presentation of news on all three networks, including SportsCenter, the NFL, Major League Baseball, College GameDay, and features. In December 2008 he was assigned to oversee the newly formed singular highlight department, combining groups from ESPN Digital and Enterprise groups.
Gross had been senior coordinating producer in ESPN's studio production department since January 2003, earning that position after guiding the Saturday morning College GameDay to its most-watched season to date. His responsibilities included editorial and production oversight for the 6 p.m. ET and weekend morning editions of SportsCenter, College GameDay and the "tease unit" for all studio programs.
In the summer of 2005, Gross led virtually all aspects of the company through the 50 States in 50 Days: SportsCenter Across America initiative. Each day for 51 days, segments of SportsCenter, ESPN's flagship news and information program originated from a different state (and the District of Columbia).
Gross joined ESPN in August 1988 as production assistant. His role and responsibilities at the network have consistently grown, serving as an associate producer, highlights supervisor, producer and coordinating producer. While a SportsCenter associate producer, Gross covered the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. He was the coordinating producer for SportsCenter's coverage of the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, including the network's unprecedented news reporting during the bombing at the Olympic Park.
The 2002 college football season marked Gross' second tour of duty on College GameDay, having served as an associate producer in 1990. His other positions at ESPN have included serving as a coordinating producer for SportsCenter, Monday NFL Countdown, NFL PrimeTime, and ESPN2's SportsNight and Unscripted with Chris Connelly.
In 1997, Gross joined ESPN Zone as the director of programming, responsible for all broadcasting, audio, video, art, grand opening events for all the restaurants and coordinating producer of ESPNZone.com, the integrated website for all Zone locations. Gross returned to ESPN studio production in March 2002 as a coordinating producer.
A native of Troy, N.Y., Gross is a graduate of Ithaca College where he earned a bachelor of science degree in television and radio.