Sabol won over 40 Emmys during his time with NFL Films and was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. Sabol took over NFL Films from his father Ed, who founded the company, and instituted several groundbreaking ideas in the world of sports television. NFL Films was the first company to wire coaches and players for sound as well as the first to use slow motion and montage editing in sports. The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia inducted Sabol into their Hall of Fame in 1996.