In early April of 2003, Rich Eisen was nearing the end of his long run at ESPN when he was at a pre-show meeting for the SportsCenter he would be hosting that evening. There was a lot going on in the sports world at that time including the start of the NBA Playoffs and Stanley Cup Playoffs, Opening Day for Major League Baseball, The Masters and The Final Four.
But somebody in the room had a thought for another story idea.
“Somebody suggested doing a piece about top cornerbacks that are still on the free agent market for the NFL,” recalled Eisen. “They were kind of laughed out of the room.”
Who is laughing now?
Eisen would leave ESPN to join NFL Network, a new venture that is still going strong and growing almost two decades later.
“It’s coming up on twenty years,” said Eisen. “It’s unbelievable. Things have grown exponentially.”
When NFL Network kicked off in June of 2003, Eisen was the host of NFL Total Access, the network’s flagship program. In 2010, Eisen signed a new long-term contract with NFL Network and became the new host of NFL Gameday Morning and he just finished his 18th year of hosting NFL Network’s coverage of the NFL Draft, an event that the network did not cover extensively from the outset.
“We weren’t doing it,” said Eisen. “We didn’t really attempt to cover the draft round by round until 2005 when we did it from our studio in Los Angeles. And then 2006 was when we went and covered a draft for the 1st time round-by-round in person.”
NFL Network’s year-round schedule of programming also includes extensive coverage of Super Bowl week, NFL free agency, the NFL Scouting Combine, Pro Days, mini-camps and the Pro Football Hall of Fame Induction Weekend in Canton, Ohio.
The season may run from pre-season in August to the Super Bowl in February, but for Eisen and everyone at NFL Network, there are no longer any off days when it comes to talking about NFL football.
“It now is a year-round 24/7/365 television and content creating factory that when the NFL Network was born, I don’t think a lot of people thought was possible,” said Eisen.
And the very existence and success of NFL Network has forced other networks to spend more time covering football.
“Now you see multiple television networks have multiple live NFL shows a day,” said Eisen. “This is a football-loving country that we have and anytime that they see it, they want more of it, and thank goodness for that.”
Eisen joined ESPN in 1996 and became a household name hosting the network’s iconic SportsCenter. Over the course of his time there, the show had evolved in many ways and was no longer the first place that sports fans would be able to see highlights of a game that they may or may not have seen live in person or on television.
“It was a time where I wanted to explore more than just what SportsCenter was offering me at the time,” said Eisen.
“Management wanted me to do only SportsCenter and I didn’t want to do that. It went from a show of explaining what happened or informing what happened to arguing about why something happened. Analysts would come on and start arguing with each other. That was a show that I still loved to do. There is no greater platform than SportsCenter on ESPN but it had run its course for me.”
As SportsCenter continued to evolve into what the show was in 2003 and what it eventually has become now, other anchors were getting additional assignments at ESPN and that was something that Eisen was very interested in.
“I wanted that same opportunity and I wasn’t feeling it so we parted ways and NFL Network was the choice,” said Eisen.
Eisen was certainly taking a risk.
He was going from a network that was seen in 100 million homes to a new venture that started with just 10 million homes and the New York City native would be moving his family from Connecticut to Los Angeles, California.
“It was certainly a calculated risk,” said Eisen. “I think it worked out.”
It sure did and the move to NFL Network also led to another huge career opportunity for Eisen. Almost eight years ago, he launched the NFL Network’s first-ever podcast and The Rich Eisen Podcast would eventually blossom into a simulcast with DirecTV’s Audience Network.
“It’s truly one of the most remarkable experiences of my entire life,” said Eisen of his daily talk show.
But not long after AT&T bought DirecTV, Eisen received a phone call with some unfortunate news that DirecTV was getting out of the daily television and original programming business.
“I was in an airport getting ready to go meet the rest of my family who I had sent ahead on Christmas vacation and I was wondering “oh my God does this mean the end of my show?” recalled Eisen.
Just a couple of months before the COVID-19 pandemic turned the world upside down, Eisen decided to take matters, as well as his show, into his own hands. Eisen took ownership of his show and created his own production company. He took the show to YouTube for a few months and then struck a deal to have his show aired on NBC Sports Network.
While NBC Sports Network is no longer in business, Eisen maintains a relationship with NBC Sports with his show now on the Peacock streaming service. The show can also be seen on YouTube and Facebook and can now be heard on 47 terrestrial radio affiliates, Sirius XM channel 85 and the Audacy app.
There certainly was some drama, but Eisen’s show has survived and is doing very well.
“We just got Emmy nominated for best daily studio show,” said Eisen. “Building it back up and thriving…the little engine than can. We’re celebrating our eighth year on the air in the fall and I love it. I love every minute of it.”
Rich Eisen enjoyed a highly successful run at ESPN before making the decision to leave for NFL Network. There were a lot of people that may have thought he was making a mistake.
After all, who wants to talk about available free agent cornerbacks in April?
It looks and sounds like Rich Eisen got the last laugh on that one!
Peter Schwartz writes weekly sports radio features for Barrett Media. He has been involved in New York sports media for over three decades, and has worked for notable brands such as WFAN, CBS Sports Radio, WCBS 880, ESPN New York, and FOX News Radio. Peter has also served as play by play announcer for the New Yok Riptide, New York Dragons, New York Hitmen, Varsity Media and the Long Island Sports Network. You can find him on Twitter @SchwartzSports or email him at DragonsRadio@aol.com.
