It has been quite the year in sports media in 2024. As the year comes to an end, let’s look back on some of the stories we have covered this year before we flip the page to 2025.
The year started out with a bang as Pat McAfee accused ESPN Head of Event and Studio Production Norby Williamson of intentionally trying to sabotage his show. This would go one to be one of the major sports media stories of the year and it took place on January 5. Also, in the month of January 2024 we learned Andrew Marchand had joined The Athletic, Doc Rivers left ESPN for the Milwaukee Bucks, Spike Eskin announced he would depart WFAN to head back home and work in afternoon drive on WIP in Philadelphia. We also saw Dan Dakich return to local radio on 1430 AM in Indianapolis, Scott Masteller was named the PD at 97.5 The Fanatic, Erika Ayers left Barstool Sports, while ESPN and the NCAA announce a new eight-year media rights deal and WWE confirms it is moving RAW to Netflix in a 10-year, $5 billion deal.
In February, we learned former Alabama head coach Nick Saban would be joining ESPN for College GameDay and we got word Jim Rome would be ending his simulcast on CBS Sports Network, the New York Jets would move from ESPN New York to Q104.3, while ESPN, FOX and Warner Bros. Discovery announced they would partner on a sports streaming platform which would later be named Venu Sports. Several broadcasters were awarded contract extensions including James Brown with CBS, Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo with ESPN and Reggie Miller with TNT. Others had things end such as Ron Cook’s tenure with 93.7 The Fan, Adam Schein’s Time to Schein program on CBS Sports Network, Verne Lundquist’s run working The Masters for CBS, Eli Gold’s long tenure as the voice of the Alabama Crimson Tide, Mike Stone’s full-time run at 97.1 The Ticket in Detroit where he was replaced by Jim Costa and Peter King retired after covering the NFL for 44 years. Additionally, Danny Zederman was named Director of Content for Good Karma Brands, Amazon’s Prime Video announces a deal with the NFL to pay $120 million for a streaming-only NFL playoff game and Barstool announced a new partnership with DraftKings.
March got off to a sad start as we lost ESPN NFL insider Chris Mortensen at the age of 72 due to cancer. We also saw Jim Moore get laid off by iHeart Media and KJR, which led to his partner Jason Puckett walking and starting his own digital network. Additionally, the long-running Ronnie & TKras show came to an end on WDAE in Tampa, Minute Media acquired the license for Sports Illustrated while ESPN and the College Football Playoff announced a 6-year, $7.8 billion deal.
As April starts, we learn the NFL Network has had to cut ties with Melissa Stark, Andrew Siciliano, James Palmer and Will Selva, that Ken LaVicka is out after 17 years at ESPN West Palm, which he announced on the air that same day and that Norby Williamson is no longer with ESPN. Also in the month, CBS Sports Radio became Infinity Sports Network, ESPN and Omaha Productions signed a long-term extension while the Iowa-South Carolina women’s NCAA Championship basketball game drew an average of 18.7 million viewers. Later in the month, Ryan Hurley is named the new Brand Manager for WFAN and Infinity Sports Network while John Sterling announces he is stepping down as the radio voice of the New York Yankees after the season has started. Also in the month, Arizona Sports becomes the first sports radio station to win the NAB Crystal Award, Jack Edwards retires as the voice of the Boston Bruins, Bill Belichick announces he will be a regular on The Pat McAfee Show and the Manningcast. Jason Kelce is named to the team for ESPN’s Monday Night Countdown, while CBS says Phil Simms and Boomer Esiason are out and Matt Ryan is in on the NFL Today as Esiason announces a new contract extension on the radio at WFAN.
In May, Mike Gorman signs off as the voice of the Boston Celtics and Rich Shertenlieb announces he will make his radio return with iHeartMedia’s WZLX. We see Roku named as the new home of MLB Sunday Leadoff, Mike Eaby named the new VP/Executive Producer of Westwood One Sports in place of Howard Deneroff who was let go and FOX Sports Radio host Doug Gottlieb is named head men’s basketball coach at UW-Green Bay and will remain hosting his daily sports show. NFL Total Access came to an end after 21 years at NFL Network, Ed Werder left ESPN, Adam Copeland stepped down as PD at KNBR in San Francisco, Dan Bernstein started his 30th year at 670 The Score and Jim Rome launched his show on the X platform. Sadly, May also saw us lose Bill Walton at the age of 71.
June saw Doris Burke made history, becoming the first female analyst to call an NBA Finals, while Adam Schein celebrated 20 years of Schein on Sports. Also in June, Josh Klingler stepped away from the morning show on 610 Sports in Kansas City after 20 years, the Los Angeles Lakers hired JJ Redick away from ESPN to be their head coach and ESPN’s John Anderson retired from his SportsCenter duties to work for his alma mater at the University of Missouri. Additionally, Freddie Coleman celebrated 20 years at ESPN Radio while the AM sports radio station in St. Louis, 590 The Fan KFNS, shut down all local programming.
July got off to a strange start with WIP’s Howard Eskin being banned from Citizens Bank Park due to making an unwanted advance toward a concession company employee. Then, one of the other top stories of the year occurred when the NBA announced it had reached media rights agreements with ESPN, NBC and Amazon starting next season. Later in the month, Glen Macnow hosted his final show on WIP after 31 years, The CW announced they’re hiring Thom Brennaman, and Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo announced a contract extension with SiriusXM
August saw Jeff Rickard named sports format captain at Radio One while Paul Finebaum signed a multi-year extension with ESPN. A couple of veteran broadcasters were also in the news towards the end of the summer as Mike Missanelli returned to 97.5 The Fanatic while Skip Bayless announced he was departing FS1’s Undisputed. Later in August, Steve Cohen was named EVP Talent and Programming at VSiN, 610 Sports in Kansas City moved to 96.5 FM and was re-branded as ‘The Fan’ and Judd Sirott was named the TV voice of the Boston Bruins. In addition, Good Karma Brands announced it was leasing WCBS 880 AM from Audacy, Danny Parkins announces he is leaving 670 The Score for FS1 who announced several programming changes. Also, the SEC Network celebrated its 10-year anniversary, Robert Griffin III and Sam Ponder get laid off at ESPN and Ariel Helwani announces his move to Yahoo Sports. Later in the month, All City launches in Dallas, Mike Greenberg is named the host of Sunday NFL Countdown, Chris Broussard leaves FOX Sports Radio and Dustin Fox says he is leaving 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland. Meanwhile, Travis and Jason Kelce get a $100 million podcast deal from Wondery/Amazon for New Heights and Jon Marks announces a new show with All City at PHLY.
September saw Kelvin Washington named as Chris Broussard’s replacement on FOX Sports Radio, John Sterling came out of retirement to call postseason games for the New York Yankees and Tom Brady made his debut as an NFL analyst on FOX. Also in September, Andy Roth was named Director of Programming for 680 The Fan, Ryan Johnston was named the Boston Bruins play-by-play voice on 98.5 The Sports Hub, Adrian Wojnarowski retired from ESPN to become the GM of the men’s basketball program at St. Bonaventure, Jim Rome launched his FAST channel and Cris Collinsworth agreed to a 4-year contract extension with NBC Sports. Towards the end of the month, 670 The Score announced programming changes highlighted by Laurence Holmes moving to afternoon drive with Matt Speigel. Also in the Windy City, Steve Stone announced he had signed a contract extension with the White Sox for the rest of his career.
October kicked off with Chris ‘Boomer’ Berman celebrating 45 years at ESPN while the network hired Shams Charania to replace ‘Woj’. The Ticket in Dallas was named the Major Market Station of the Year at the Marconi Awards while 104.3 The Fan in Denver was named the 2024 Sports Radio Station of the Year. Later in the month, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones got into a spat with 103.3 ESPN hosts Shan Shariff and RJ Choppy, FanDuel bought the naming rights to the Diamond Sports Group regional networks formerly known as Bally Sports. Right before a World Series which would feature his beloved Los Angeles Dodgers, we lost Fernando Valenzuela. Additionally, Atlanta Hawks broadcaster Steve Holman calls his 3,000th consecutive game, Nick Wright signs a long-term contract extension with FS1 and Bob Costas announces he is retiring from baseball play-by-play.
In November it was announced that High Heat would come to an end after 11 years on MLB Network, Rich Shertenlieb would be let go in another round of iHeartMedia layoffs and Tom Tolbert would see his time come to an end at KNBR in San Francisco. Later, Jon Gruden would be hired by Barstool, Diamond Sports Group would emerge from bankruptcy and Dave Sims would be named the new radio voice of the New York Yankees. Netflix airs the Mike Tyson-Jake Paul fight and struggles to keep everyone who wanted to watch connected, Inside the NBA is licensed to ESPN who also says Around the Horn will come to an end in 2025. Meanwhile it is announced Hubie Brown will call one more game to end his illustrious career in and around basketball and as the month nears its end, we find out the great USA Today media columnist Rudy Martzke passed away.
And just this past month of December, we saw the Stephen A. Smith negotiations with ESPN heat up, got the news Michael Kay is ending his run in afternoon drive in New York in order to move to middays and find out Bill Belichick is going to be named the next head coach at the University of North Carolina. We also find out Randy Moss is dealing with liver cancer and will have to step away from ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown. Additionally, NBC added Jamal Crawford to its team as it started to fill out the roster for NBA coverage and Cleveland Guardians announcer Tom Hamilton was named the recipient of the 2025 Ford C. Frick Award. December also saw The Jim Rome Show team up with Westwood One announcing it would move to afternoon drive in 2025 while Rich Eisen announced he will join the Infinity Sports Network lineup. We also learned Taylor Rooks would be named the lead NBA host for Amazon’s Prime Video, that BetQL Network and NBC Sports were partnering to air You Bettor You Bet on their FAST channel and that for the first time in company history, All City had a round of layoffs across a few of their markets. Additionally, Howard Eskin and 94WIP decide to part ways after a 30+ year relationship. Then on Christmas, Netflix made its NFL broadcasting debut and received mostly positive reviews as it reached nearly 65 million U.S. viewers during their doubleheader. The year, unfortunately, ended on a sad note as we lost the incomparable Greg Gumbel at the age of 78.
Wow. What a year.
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Dave Greene is the Chief Media Officer for Barrett Media. His background includes over 25 years in media and content creation. A former sports talk host and play-by-play broadcaster, Dave transitioned to station and sales management, co-founded and created a monthly sports publication and led an ownership group as the operating partner. He has managed stations and sales teams for Townsquare Media, Cumulus Media and Audacy. Upon leaving broadcast media he co-founded Podcast Heat, a sports and entertainment podcasting network specializing in pro wrestling nostalgia. To interact, find him on Twitter @mr_podcasting. You can also reach him by email at Dave@BarrettMedia.com.
