Is broadcasting more valuable than coaching football for NFL head coaches? That’s the question The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz debated on Tuesday’s show.
As the NFL enters its offseason following the end of Super Bowl LVI, arguably the biggest early storyline is whether or not Sean McVay will return as coach of the Los Angeles Rams or go into broadcasting, where he’s drawing interest from at least one, if not more, networks.
Even if McVay intends to return to the Rams for the 2022 season (and he’s signed through 2023), will he give the impression that he’s interested in leaving coaching for TV as leverage for a new, richer contract?
“The idea is no longer far-fetched that Sean McVay and his agents and his team, they cannot get a bigger offer by saying that job in football will pay me $20 million more,” said Le Batard. “The only leverage for them anywhere, whether it’s real or not, is that ESPN wants him for Monday Night Football and they will pay him more.”
(The conversation begins at the 34:44 mark.)
Stugotz then pointed out that Tony Romo makes $17 million a year broadcasting for CBS. That’s twice as much as McVay’s $8.5 million annual salary to coach the Rams, which underlined Le Batard’s point that coaches have no leverage if no other NFL coaching jobs are available. They have to pursue broadcasting positions. It’s the best option their agents have.
On his show Tuesday, Dan Patrick said he heard from a source that McVay and ESPN are showing enough interest in each other that he could make a move to TV. Again, is that McVay exercising leverage? Possibly.
But it appears that ESPN wants McVay and presumably will offer him enough money to seriously consider it. That lines up with what the New York Post‘s Andrew Marchand reported on Monday.
Paul Pabst then brought up the salary differences between McVay and Romo. “It’s no longer a pay cut to go to the media,” he said.
Seton O’Connor argued that McVay would be crazy to leave coaching when he’s only 36 and just won a Super Bowl. But Patrick countered that he’s young enough to do Monday Night Football and then go back to coaching if he misses it or gets the right offer, as Jon Gruden did.
Both hosts made the same point: Sean McVay is in a great position right now. But he’s only there because broadcasting is an option. Without it, he’s probably stuck with the contract he has now unless team ownership wants to reward him for winning the Super Bowl. Right now, however, he has a considerable bargaining chip.
Ian Casselberry is a sports media columnist for BSM. He has previously written and edited for Awful Announcing, The Comeback, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports, MLive, Bleacher Report, and SB Nation. You can find him on Twitter @iancass or reach him by email at iancass@gmail.com.
