WFAN legend Mike Francesa said before Chris Rose, Tom Arnold, Reggie Theus, Deacon Jones and John Kruk launched a weeknight sports talk show on FOX Sports Net in 2001, FOX had Francesa and co-host Chris “Mad Dog” Russo as their top choice.
On the latest episode of The Mike Francesa Podcast, Mike was asked about his influence on sports debate TV. He noted that while most of the credit for today’s daytime sports TV landscape should go to Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, there was a time when he and Mad Dog were highly sought after in the TV space.
“There were networks that wanted to put Dog and I on TV from the beginning,” Francesa said. “FOX wanted us in the worst way. Before there was that Best Damn Sports Show thing, they wanted us. But they wanted us five days a week after our show was over.”
Francesa explained that both he and Russo wanted work-life balance. Doing a five-hour radio show every day and then hosting a TV show was a recipe for burnout. They didn’t want that.
According to The Sports Pope, Mike & the Mad Dog proposed doing TV two nights a week. That is not what FOX wanted though.
“We couldn’t make an agreement with them so they went elsewhere,” Francesa said.
The Best Damn Sports Show Period ran from 2001-09.
