Sports broadcasting’s quiet icon: Worcester native Sean McGrail made NESN the envy of regional sports networks

It’s easy for New England's younger sports fans to take a lot for granted.

As other major sports markets are lucky to see one championship parade per decade, they’ve become a common occurrence here; this century has seen the region’s most prominent sports teams take home six Super Bowl trophies, four World Series titles, two NBA championships, and a NHL Stanley Cup victory.

Another thing that younger fans of the region’s teams, particularly supporters of the Boston Bruins and Boston Red Sox, might take for granted is the existence of New England Sports Network, the Watertown-based regional sports broadcaster that has been bringing Red Sox and Bruins regular season games into viewers’ homes since 1984.

While sports fans in other national markets have seen their own regional sports networks scramble to adapt to new technology and viewers cutting the proverbial cable, the broadcasting partnership between Boston’s professional baseball and hockey teams has thrived, with the network reaching millions of New England residents and adapting to the rise of streaming.

NESN broadcasters, including the late baseball color analyst Jerry Remy and the now-retired hockey announcer Jack Edwards, have become household names in New England. But the network’s Worcester-born former president and CEO Sean McGrail has quietly been key to the network’s success, according to two of the region’s most powerful sports executives, making his retirement this October the latest hurdle for the network to overcome.

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“He's always been innovative, and while others were sort of following different paths, he realized that the path forward was to create the best content to make a channel that was 24/7 that took advantage of the of the power of both the Bruins and the Red Sox,” Tom Werner, chairman of both the Red Sox and the English Premier League’s Liverpool Football Club, said of McGrail. “He's been an innovator ever since we met in 2002.”

Charlie Jacobs, CEO of the Bruins and Buffalo-based Delaware North hospitality company, said McGrail has been pivotal in NESN’s longevity.

“He ran one of the most successful regional networks in the country,” Jacobs said. “So he’s certainly a local Worcester guy done great, as they say.”

Hitchhiking on I-290

Raised by two working parents in a triple decker off Lincoln Street near Green Hill Park with three other siblings, McGrail attended the then-Harlow Street School.

After his parents moved the family to a single-family home in the Burncoat neighborhood – a move McGrail described as feeling like they had won the lottery – he attended Burncoat Junior High, before a friendly wager led him to the private Saint John’s High School in Shrewsbury.

“My godmother bet me $25 I couldn't pass the entrance exam,” said McGrail. “I always say that was the hardest $25 I ever earned, because I had four years at St John's after that, but it was great.”

His parent’s work schedules necessitated hitchhiking down Interstate 290 to get to school and back, something unthinkable for most parents today.

McGrail said his upbringing in Worcester brought him some valuable business lessons and lifelong connections.

“I spent a lot of time with my grandfather, who ran a bunch of businesses in Worcester,” he said. “From him I learned empathy and relatability to people and the ability to speak to people, all of which are invaluable skills in business. Foundationally, growing up here in Worcester, it’s a very tight, small community, even though it's a big town. My two oldest friends I went to kindergarten with, and I see them all the time.”

McGrail is still connected to the Central Massachusetts community. He resides in Hopkinton, while his 88-year-old mother lives in Worcester. His youngest sister Erin is employed in the special education department at Worcester Public Schools.

Beyond the B’s and Sox

Following his upbringing in Worcester, McGrail attended Northeastern University in Boston, working full-time at night to pay his way through college. After a stint at Continental Cablevision, an early pioneer in cable television which would eventually become part of Comcast, he received a call from the fledgling NESN.

McGrail hasn’t looked back since first joining the network’s marketing department in the mid-1980s, managing to keep both the Red Sox and Bruins happy, as they own 80% and 20% of the network respectively.

He convinced leadership to send him to business school, receiving an MBA from Boston University, before being named president and CEO of NESN in 2000.

McGrail’s tenure has seen a great amount of change in the regional sports broadcasting scene, as technological advances and changing consumer habits have required constant adaptation.

His leadership has been pivotal to the network’s quick adaptation to new technology like high-definition cameras and online streaming, said Werner, a highly-experienced television producer responsible for everything from “The Cosby Show” to “Roseanne” to “That ‘70s Show.”

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Tom Werner, chair of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool Football Club

“My background in media made me realize the potential of a strong regional sports network,” Werner said. “Some networks succeed, and some fail. It's not a given that if you have a regional sports network that is connected to a sports team, that you'll be successful. But he was able to create must-see content.”

The on-the-field and on-the-ice success of the network’s teams was certainly a boost, but a 24/7 network needs more than just that day’s game to keep viewers tuning in. NESN productions over the years have included everything from the long running “Charlie Moore Outdoors” fishing-focused show, to the baseball-themed dating show “Sox Appeal,” to “Dining Playbook,” a look into the region’s culinary scene.

“It comes out of the creativity of the team,” McGrail said. “Also, one of our primary owners, Tom Werner, has had a pretty good run on television, right?”

Distribution deals

McGrail’s skillset has been valuable for another reality of running a regional sports network: constant battles with cable providers over distribution deals.

“When we go into negotiations with some of our distributors, I think that they have enormous respect and admiration for Sean,” Werner said. “Sometimes these negotiations can be hard fought, but I think that, because of Sean's wisdom, I think that we end up making extremely good arrangements with our distributors who enjoy the partnership.”

McGrail’s ability to negotiate these conversations and keep both the Bruins and Red Sox content with results has been important, said Jacobs.

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Charlie Jacobs, CEO of the Boston Bruins

“The way I look at it, we’re winter programming, and the Sox are summer programming,” said Jacobs. “So for [McGrail], as an operator, he can go to different distributors and say ‘I've got year round programming. I’m probably going to carry the market just about every night that I've got live programming.’ I feel like Sean took it very seriously and put our own collective best foot forward.”

NESN's presence in more than 4 million homes across New England has come as other sports-focused networks have faltered. Diamond Sports Group, a large Virginia-based operator of regional sports networks, which previously owned the broadcast rights for 15 professional sports teams across the country, filed for bankruptcy in 2023 after wracking up more than $150 million in debt. The firm, which operates its networks under the name Bally Sports, is looking to emerge as a restructured company.

Meanwhile, NESN has grown its offerings, building off the 2022 launch of NESN 360, the first direct-to-consumer streaming service offered by a regional sports network. In November, it announced the launch of NESN Nation, a free, ad-supported streaming TV channel set to be nationally distributed on free-to-stream services. The network is expanding its content, broadcasting games featuring teams not involved in NESN ownership, including the Boston Fleet of the Professional Women’s Hockey League and select games of Rhode Island FC, a men’s soccer team playing in the second-tier USL Championship.

The stars of tomorrow

A more recent move has seen the network take a particular interest in the rise of the Worcester Red Sox, with NESN broadcasting a 2019 special which officially revealed the team’s WooSox nickname and logo.

While NESN would broadcast a handful of Pawtucket Red Sox games before the minor league baseball team’s move to Worcester, the network has taken the relatively rare step of broadcasting every WooSox home game, turning the farm team’s park into a proving ground for both the players and broadcasters of tomorrow.

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McGrail looks onto the field at the Polar Park baseball stadium in Worcester, where NESN broadcasts all WooSox home games.

“I'm not sure if NESN were owned by a company that was not connected to the team ... they would have put on that programming,” Werner said of the WooSox games on NESN. “It's good for our fans to know who the stars of tomorrow are. It may not even be a profitable telecast in and of itself, but it contributes to enthusiasm for the Red Sox.”

The rise of the WooSox brought joy to the final chapters of his NESN career, said McGrail.

“Being a Worcester native, I was very enthusiastic about Worcester,” he said. “We helped design the camera positions in Polar Park and the control room, which is really second to none.”

Back to Worcester

McGrail, who played a lead role in bringing the Red Sox’s annual NESN Jimmy Fund Radio-Telethon into existence and who sits on the board of both the Bruin’s and Red Sox’s foundations, has continued his focus on charitable efforts even as he heads towards the exit.

In November, he met with hundreds of Worcester schoolchildren at Polar Park, as they offered blueprints for a playground to be built in 2025 at Worcester’s Harrington Field by NESN, part of a regional effort by the organization.

“We support New England, and a lot of our charitable initiatives we do in different states,” McGrail said. “So it was really exciting to be able to come to my own hometown and start this initiative.”

Heading to retirement, McGrail, who remains a senior advisor to NESN’s board, is looking forward to spending more time building his extensive car collection and living a healthier work-life balance.

“Doing this has literally been a 78-hour-a-week job, and it has been for decades,” he said. “So I'm looking forward to that next step, and maybe, you know, coming back to Worcester periodically, and seeing some of my friends.”

Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.