Earlier this month, it was announced that former FS1 announcer and current Showtime Boxing host Brian Custer would be joining the ESPN family as an anchor on SportsCenter. Custer will also be on the call for college basketball and football games on the network.
This week, Custer was on The Adam Schein Podcast to talk about his latest career news. Custer and Schein used to work together at SNY so they were able to look back at their days doing Jets Postgame Live together in 2006.
Schein tells Custer during the interview that it has been “a real treat” hearing him do play-by-play on FS1. In the past, Schein usually associated Custer with doing studio shows because of how natural he was when he hosted The Wheelhouse, Jets Postgame Live, and SportsNite. For Custer, part of being seen only as a studio host led him to wanting to go to a different direction that gave him more of an opportunity to do other things.
“I’ve always prided myself with being a five-tool player,” Custer said. “I never wanted to be pigeon-holed into one thing.”
While Custer is heading over to ESPN, he is not leaving his job at Showtime and he never intended to.
“I told them that’s non-negotiable. I’m under contract there and I plan to be there for as long as they want me. I feel like we are the preeminent leader when it comes to the sport of boxing and there’s nobody better at what we do. There was no way I was going to give that up.
“I think ESPN realized how passionate I was about it. They understood me doing my podcast and that I will always interview fighters. They knew I was really passionate about it and there was no way I was going to give that up.
Schein mentions that when the two of them met at SNY, he thought Custer would be a great SportsCenter anchor and Custer explained what the honor of eventually hosting the iconic show means to him.
“WAs a kid, I envisioned myself doing SportsCenter. They say timing is everything. When they called, the timing was right and there was no way I could pass it up. The offer was too good and the opportunity more than anything was too great.”
