HBO Sports president Greenburg resigns

HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg has resigned from the network after 33 years, the past 11 in his current position, he said Sunday.

There had been widespread speculation in recent months that Greenburg was on his way out, after Showtime secured rights to the Manny Pacquiao-Shane Mosley bout in May.

Pacquiao is the biggest attraction in boxing, and HBO Sports' biggest attraction is boxing, which long has made Greenburg one of the post powerful people in the sport. But Greenburg insisted that though losing rights to the Pacquiao fight was "annoying," it was "not the straw that broke the camel's back." He noted HBO had lost other key fighters in the past -- Mike Tyson, for example.

Greenburg said negotiating boxing deals increasingly had become "too much of a burden" that took him away from work he preferred to do.

He likened boxing negotiations to "being a ticket agent at the airport and every day all the flights were canceled."

Under Greenburg, HBO Sports became a force in documentaries and journalism, including the long-running magazine show "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel." He also was behind "Hard Knocks," a joint production with NFL Films.

Greenburg, 56, has won eight Peabody Awards and 51 Sports Emmys.

The final documentary project under his watch -- scheduled to premiere later this summer -- will chronicle Derek Jeter's final days en route to his 3,000th career hit. Greenburg called the Jeter show his "swan song at HBO." He said he has various television and movie projects in mind for his post-HBO career. "It was just time," he said. "I wasn't enjoying myself the last year or six months."

HBO co-president Richard Plepler and Michael Lombardo, president of HBO programming, said in a joint statement: "We believe that Ross' track record speaks for itself. He has helped redefine the sports programming genre and set an extraordinary standard of excellence in the industry. We will miss his leadership, vision, creativity and passion for sports television."