It all started with NBC officially announcing that Mike Tirico would take over Sunday Night Football in 2022. It is the first domino to fall in what will surely be a busy offseason for agents of broadcasters. Dan Patrick says he cannot remember anything like it.
A sitting NFL head coach doesn’t usually take meetings with TV networks to decide if he will return to the sideline or move to the booth. That happened recently with Sean McVay.
“I don’t begrudge him or knock him for exploring TV,” Dan Patrick said. “I think he did explore TV. I think he was being disingenuous when it was like ‘Of course I’m staying with the Rams!’”
After celebrating the Super Bowl victory with his fiancee and Rams players and executives, McVay reportedly took a meeting with Amazon. Patrick says no reasonable fan could fault McVay for wanting to get paid by either the team or Amazon.
Dan Patrick says that Aikman leaving FOX for ESPN creates an opening there. There is still the matter of Amazon’s new Thursday Night Football booth. If that company lands any established talent, that will create more openings. He compared it to college football players switching schools.
“This is broadcast transfer portal is what it is,” Patrick said. “Sean McVay had every right to be interested in that. Sean Payton is probably going to get $15 million per year to be a broadcaster. It’s the wild, wild West.”
