ITV’s head of diversity among contenders to replace Barbara Slater at BBC

BBC have stepped up their bid to replace outgoing Barbara Slater as the corporation’s director of sport with three internal candidates joined by a wildcard from ITV.

The three contenders internally are Ben Gallop, Jonathan Wall and Stephen Lyle while ITV’s head of diversity Ade Rawcliffe has emerged as an option.

While ITV sources insist Rawcliffe will not be moving, her name has been circulating within the department as the most likely outside hire.

The process has already lasted much longer than had originally been expected. One explanation may be a lack of applications from “big beasts” from the world of sports broadcasting. The corporation has surrendered the live rights to several of sport’s biggest events in recent years.

Slater, who took over in 2009, was the first woman to take the role, breaking up a sequence of male heads of sport that stretched back through Roger Mosey to – working backwards – Peter Salmon, Bob Shennan, Brian Barwick and Jonathan Martin.

In the past, the transfer of power has always been relatively straightforward, but this time there is a sense of mystery around the appointment.

A former trainee producer at BBC Sport, Rawcliffe helped to deliver Channel 4’s coverage of the Paralympics for both London 2012 and Rio in 2016, while holding a wider role as “creative diversity manager”. She moved to ITV in 2017.

Department insiders have also mentioned the names of Gallop, head of digital and commissioning for BBC Sport, and Wall, a former sports producer who is now the controller of BBC Sounds (the catch-all name for radio, music and podcasts).

The early name that stood out from the pack was that of Lyle, a former Channel 4 head of sport who became the BBC’s head of football last summer. Were either Rawcliffe or Lyle to be appointed, they would be the first person of colour to hold the role.

The BBC’s sports coverage has become vastly more diverse under Slater’s leadership. Formerly a largely male preserve, it has welcomed a variety of new female pundits and commentators.

Now 64, Slater is due to retire in a matter of weeks. The end of her tenure was dominated by the row over Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker and his politically slanted social media posts. Previously, she steered the department through some challenging years as budget cuts restricted the amount of live sport that the BBC was able to bid for.