Over the past few years, there has been a rise in former athletes joining one of the major television networks or starting their own podcast as they enter the sports media landscape. The world of sports media has changed and athletes are finding more platforms to get their voices heard.
ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky was on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday and he gave a reason as to why more athletes are in the sports media world compared to when he got to ESPN.
“When I first got in 5 years ago, to my knowledge, there wasn’t a ton of money in it for ex-players. Players are used to making x amount of dollars and then you get into television and are like ‘I’m going to work more, but make less?’.”
However, as Orlovsky put it, there is a spot for athletes to join the media if they are willing to put the necessary work in due to all the money going into every sport.
“I think because of all the different platforms, because the television revenue or ads have gone up so much, if you are an ex-athlete and you are really good, you do the work, and you show up everyday and provide literal content, there’s real money to be made nowadays.”
Orlovsky added that an athlete talking about their sport can help change someone’s opinion on a topic or at least help them get a greater understanding of what they are seeing and hearing.
“For me, with the quarterback stuff, one of the things is always I wanted people to believe there were other great quarterbacks then Tom Brady. It was always Tom Brady and every other QB I feel like people would say would suck. Once you get more people talking about the realities of it, there’s a better appreciation.”
