OT- ESPN losing more talent

[Drew]

so first it was primarily the college guys with Shad and Robert Smith and now it's bigger guys with Mike Tirico and Brad Nessler:

 

[NavinRJohnson]

Nessler is the best in the business. Just love his voice when calling a game on a Saturday night.

 

[shizzle787]

ESPN's in big trouble.

 

[31GuardTrap]

Nessler is fantastic. Has that "Keith Jackson" voice. One when you hear, you know a good football game is on.
Heard on the radio yesterday that Sean Mcdonaugh (sp) will be taking over the Monday Night Football calls. I am ok with Tirico leaving. between he and Nance, IMO, they are the most overrated play by play guys out there. Can't stand either one. Tirico is better off hosting some pre game show.

 

[Waquoit]

McDonough is light years better than Mike Tirico. No loss.

 

[IMind]

I like Tirico hosting a show, pre-game, post game... but with you on calling games. Although he usually goes a bit out of his way to mention UConn players.

 

[Excalibur]

Tirico was pretty good doing college hoops in the late '90's, but I don't care for him calling football.

McDounough has lost a lot of gigs due to his apparently being a huge D!#*, but he's one of the best around and excels calling any sport.

 

[Kgun7]

Tirico was pretty good doing college hoops in the late '90's, but I don't care for him calling football.

McDounough has lost a lot of gigs due to his apparently being a huge D!#*, but he's one of the best around and excels calling any sport.

I personally lost all respect for McDonough when he called a UCONN Mens hoops game at the Civic center and poked fun at the Whaler banners during a break in the action. "Get over it Hartford ... they're not coming back" ... did not add a lot to the telecast for me!!

 

[NavinRJohnson]

Nessler is fantastic. Has that "Keith Jackson" voice. One when you hear, you know a good football game is on.
Heard on the radio yesterday that Sean Mcdonaugh (sp) will be taking over the Monday Night Football calls. I am ok with Tirico leaving. between he and Nance, IMO, they are the most overrated play by play guys out there. Can't stand either one. Tirico is better off hosting some pre game show.

I was waiting for Nessler to be partnered with Kirk Herbstriet as the #1 team on Saturday nights. I really liked when Tirico called Thursday night football on ESPN. That fit him well.

 

[huskymedic]

FootballScoop 2:48pm via TweetDeck
Skip Bayless is leaving ESPN. His contract expires in August.

 

[Excalibur]

FootballScoop 2:48pm via TweetDeck
Skip Bayless is leaving ESPN. His contract expires in August.

Now THAT is good news . . .

 

[Chin Diesel]

FootballScoop 2:48pm via TweetDeck
Skip Bayless is leaving ESPN. His contract expires in August.

This thread is about ESPN losing talent. Not sure how Bayless's employment status fits in to this conversation.

 

[uconnphil2016]

Today I learned that Skip Bayless eats Chinese food for dinner every single night. He's a strange enough dude that I wasn't at all surprised.

 

[uconnfan68]

Nessler is fantastic. Has that "Keith Jackson" voice. One when you hear, you know a good football game is on.
Heard on the radio yesterday that Sean Mcdonaugh (sp) will be taking over the Monday Night Football calls. I am ok with Tirico leaving. between he and Nance, IMO, they are the most overrated play by play guys out there. Can't stand either one. Tirico is better off hosting some pre game show.

My guess is Tirico is going to end up as the voice of the Olympics. He'll be trained by Costas for 2016 and 2018, then it's his. Hard to argue it's not a step up.

 

[Drew]

Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Mike Tirico to NBC Huh?

 

[Drew]

Why all that talent is headed out the door at ESPN

"In an earlier, richer age, ESPN's executives simply would have taken out their checkbook to renew the contracts of such personalities as Cowherd, Bayless and Tirico, said John Ourand, who covers the company for SportsBusiness Daily. "If they were a million dollars off on a talent they wanted, I imagine they just bridged that gap" with more money, he said.

But that was then."


Interesting read here from the Courant on talent leaving ESPN. Pretty good idea of their thought process regarding on air talent going forward

 

[SubbaBub]

In the beginning, ESPN was about reporting on actual sports events, then it became about personalities and water cooler catch phrases. That's when it got expensive. Then they became a promotional platform full of product placement and hot takes.

Now, they don't need a famous face to deliver the promos and reddit level opinions. So the model is now buy, content rights, promote those rights, shill a few products and pile up clickbait in between the other 3.

Why would you need Mike Tirico, when you can pay Mike Golic, Jr in cheeseburgers.

 

[pnow15]

Do you get the idea that people are fleeing the PC inquisitions teams at ESPN?

 

[DoctorWho85]

I can't stand ESPN anymore. It's just a bunch of TMZ what did Lebron do this week television now. You barely get highlights anymore. I've only watched when I had to because of UConn was on their channels. I've really enjoyed NBC and CBS the last couple years in terms of college football, so I hope UConn can find more games on there or at least the BigXII or BIG networks

 

[huskymedic]

ESPN NFL analyst Trent Dilfer likely done at the network

 

[Chin Diesel]

I don't have any idea of how many hours each of these on air personalities "work". I do realize much of it is preparation, watching film, conducting interviews off-air for background, etc.

What I am confident of going forward is that the "talent" left behind will be doing more on air work and less off-air preparation. That off-air prep will be handled by lower paid faceless employees.

 

[Jax Husky]

ESPN is headed to MTV territory. Less live sports, more produced shows.

 

[uconnfan68]

ESPN is headed to MTV territory. Less live sports, more produced shows.

Even the "live" stuff will be done remotely. Patrick and Elmore did a few UConn games from Orlando, and we weren't playing UCF.

 

[Drew]

 

[Jax Husky]

I am ecstatic that Robert Smith is gone. He is terrible. He and Short quite obviously watch no college football and just go with what is written for them. Give me Jesse Palmer anyday.