Kentucky public television to share Jim Host’s influential and storied life in new documentary
JIM HOST DISTINGUISHED himself as an exceptional storyteller throughout his life as a sports business entrepreneur and pioneer. Now, the public television station in his home state of Kentucky is going to tell his story.
Kentucky Educational Television will air the one-hour documentary titled “Jim Host: Game Changer” at 8 p.m. on Oct. 17 with re-airs of the program to follow. People from outside of the viewing area will be able stream it on demand from KET.org.
The documentary will chronicle Host’s numerous contributions to the state by taking on leadership roles in the Yum! Center, Rupp Arena, Kentucky Horse Park and many other transformational projects.
Host, 85, is a legendary figure in the evolution of sports business nationally and globally. That was especially true in the realm of college sports marketing, where his Host Communications became a leader in multimedia rights for schools and created the NCAA’s corporate partner program.
“There really wasn’t such a thing as sports business or sports marketing until 30 years or so ago,” Host said.
“What I hope people take away from the documentary is that if one person had done any one of those projects, it would have been an incredible accomplishment,” said Justin Allen, the program’s producer and director of photography who is going on 14 years at KET. “But for one person to accomplish all of those things, it’s really amazing.”
Beth Kirchner served as co-producer.
Shae Hopkins, the CEO at KET, spearheaded the initiative to tell Host’s extensive story. It was more than a year ago that she invited Host and his wife,
Pat, to lunch and dropped the idea on him. Host was resistant at first, but Hopkins had known him for decades and they agreed to move forward with the project.
“Jim has had a tremendous impact on sports marketing nationally,” Hopkins said via email to Sports Business Journal. “And in our state, he’s been a pivotal part of Kentucky basketball and many community projects including the creation of Rupp Arena in Lexington and the Yum! Center in Louisville. We thought this was an interesting story to share with our viewers.” Allen’s production team conducted close to a dozen interviews with sources who were familiar with Host’s accomplishments. The documentary benefited, Allen said, from Pat Host’s deep archive of Jim Host’s accomplishments.
“Jim has an absolutely phenomenal memory,” Allen said. “You can credit a lot of his success to remembering people and remembering their connections.”
A private viewing of the documentary will be held this week for friends and family.