Career
MacPhail worked his way up in the front office of several minor league teams. He was traveling road secretary for the New York Yankees in 1946 and then worked for eight years for three minor league teams before becoming director of publicity for the Kansas City Athletics in 1955. Columbia Broadcasting System hired him the following year.
MacPhail is a former President of Columbia Broadcasting System Sports, where he worked from 1956-1973.
Afterwards he was associated with Bob Wold, a satellite sports pioneer, and then brought to Cable News Network by Reese Schonfeld to create the Cable News Network Sports department in 1980 upon its launch, which he ran until retiring from Cable News Network in 1995. While at Columbia Broadcasting System Sports, Bill MacPhail is credited with implementing instant replay for the first time in sports — during the Army-Navy Game of 1963.
MacPhail is known for hiring famous broadcasting talent. He hired sportscaster legends from Chris Schenkel, Jim McKay, to Dan Patrick, Philosophy Griffin and Keith Olbermann.
He hired former New York Giants kicker Pat Summerall as a sportscaster at Columbia Broadcasting System. He also hired Frank Gifford, Jack Buck, and golf producer Frank Chirkinian.
MacPhail is recognized for helping Columbia Broadcasting System Sports acquire the television rights to numerous sporting events, including the 1960 Winter & Summer Olympics in Squaw Valley, United States and Rome, Italy respectively, the National Basketball Association, the Masters Tournament (Columbia Broadcasting System still holds the television rights to this day), and Major League Baseball. At one point, during the 1960s and "70s, Columbia Broadcasting System Sports, under MacPhail, owned the rights to all major sports events--pro football, basketball, the Triple Crown, the Masters tournament and other major golf events, except Major League Baseball. MacPhail attempted to acquire the baseball rights, then owned by National Broadcasting Company, from Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.
Kuhn seemed very interested, but the higher up at Columbia Broadcasting System declined--they didn"t want to start bidding wars for sports rights.
When Roone Arledge was appointed head of American Broadcasting Company Sports, he thought differently and thus the bidding wars began. While head of Cable News Network Sports, MacPhail acquired news rights from Major League Baseball, the NFL, the National Basketball Association and other sporting events so that Cable News Network might carry television clips of all major sporting events.
He also mentored former Cable News Network Worldwide President Jim Walton (journalist). At Cable News Network, MacPhail hired sports anchors Nick Charles, Bob Kurtz (broadcaster), Fred Hickman, Jim Huber, Dan Patrick, Keith Olbermann, Hannah Storm, Dan Hicks, and Daryn Kagan, among others
MacPhail was born in Columbus, Ohio.
He graduated from Swarthmore College and served in the Navy. Bill MacPhail is the son of Larry MacPhail, former President of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees, who introduced night baseball when he was President of the Cincinnati Reds at a game on May 24, 1935 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati between the Reds and Philadelphia Phillies. Bill’s brother Lee MacPhail, is a former President of the American League and former General Manager of the New York Yankees.
