Holy crap!!! Mike Tirico is leaving ESPN for NBC. Tirico has been at the Worldwide Leader since '91!!! All for the crappy five game Thursday night package that NBC just acquired. Sean McDonough, who I like, is the favorite to rein Gruden in on Mondays.
QuoteESPN's Mike Tirico, the play-by-play voice of Monday Night Football, is leaving the network to join NBC, Sports Business Daily's John Ourand reports.
Tirico, 49, has been with ESPN since 1991 and has called Monday night games for the network since 2006. He also calls NBA games and previously worked major golf tournaments.
Ourand reports that Sean McDonough is the leading candidate to take Tirico's place on MNF, while Tirico will be the chief play-by-play man for NBC's newly acquired five-game Thursday night NFL package. NBC also has golf broadcast rights, most notably the British Open, and owns the rights to the Olympics.
http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/report-monday-night-football-announcer-mike-tirico-leaving-for-nbc/ar-BBsfhcI?li=BBnb7Kz
Not just for THU night football. He's the heir apparent to Al Michaels and/or Bob Costas.
Hadn't thought about that. Makes sense. I wonder if Michaels will share Collinsworth on Thursday night games. Get the chemistry started early.
Could they replace Gruden instead? His commentary is obnoxious. He glad hands everyone as a 'great player' to hedge his bets in case he gets back in to coaching. Nobody ever makes a mistake, bad plays don't exist, everything is just peachy! Ugh.
Quote from: Arctic Blast on April 26, 2016, 12:36:13 AM
Could they replace Gruden instead? His commentary is obnoxious. He glad hands everyone as a 'great player' to hedge his bets in case he gets back in to coaching. Nobody ever makes a mistake, bad plays don't exist, everything is just peachy! Ugh.
nope - ESPN lives by the 'cult of the jock' and Tirico's deal is already signed
http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Daily/Closing-Bell/2016/04/25/Tirico.aspx
Incidentally, all the folks that've been in that afternoon ESPN radio ended up leaving the company - Dan Patrick, Eric Kuselius, and now Tirico. Would Van Pelt, Kannell and/or Rusillo be far behind?
Skip Bayless is leaving ESPN for Fox, too
In case you've forgotten what an idiot Bayless is
http://dailysnark.com/ten-dumbest-skip-bayless-tweets-time/
I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo glad! Can't stand Bayless! And I can't find Sports 1 on my cable without looking for it, so, good riddance!
Quote from: bayonetbrant on April 26, 2016, 10:15:58 PM
Skip Bayless is leaving ESPN for Fox, too
In case you've forgotten what an idiot Bayless is
http://dailysnark.com/ten-dumbest-skip-bayless-tweets-time/
Good riddance. Perhaps he can find work somewhere further away. Siberia?
And two more may be leaving
Quote
Skip Bayless and Mike Tirico are not the only broadcasters leaving ESPN's Bristol Campus.
NFL TV sources say Trent Dilfer, one of ESPN's most engaging NFL analysts and member of the "Monday Countdown" crew, is likely headed out the door. Spies say money is the issue.
And according to published reports, Brad Nessler, one of ESPN's top college football and basketball play-by-play voices, is headed to CBS to work NFL games.
The speculation is Nessler will eventually succeed Verne Lundquist on CBS' SEC football package.
CBS and NBC both have MAJOR succession problems they've not yet solved, and both look like they're raiding ESPN to do it.
Who is going to follow
Bob Costas?
Al Michaels?
Mary Carillo?
Mike Emrich?
Vern Lundquist?
Phil Simms?
Jim Nantz?
Gary Danielson?
Bill Rafferty?
Raiding ESPN may not be that hard, as ESPN is getting hard with cord cutting.
The cord-cutting is hurting, but not that much. What's really hurting are the skyrocketing rights fees that all of the League's are demanding and at some point you hit Market saturation where there's not enough advertising dollars to justify the size of those rights fees
The other issue of course is having Disney as your corporate parent. It gives you a lot of cross-branding and exposure, but also makes you a slave to stock market whims