Rece Davis has reportedly agreed to a new seven-year deal with ESPN that will see him continue working with the network despite what was described as “an all-out effort” from FOX Sports to try and sign him. Davis, who has been working at ESPN since 1995 and hosting College GameDay for the last decade, will reportedly be remaining with the company and continue his lead hosting role through the remainder of the College Football Playoff media rights deal. Andrew Marchand of The Athletic was the first to report Davis inking a new contract with ESPN amid a variety of other transactions taking place within college football coverage.
Davis was part of a record-breaking regular season for the football edition of College GameDay in which the program averaged 2.2 million viewers per show, representative of a 6% year-over-year proliferation. As a whole, the show accrued 30 million viewers during that time and attained three of its six most-watched episodes since 2013. Although the parameters of Davis’ new contract are unknown, Marchand reported that it is worth “tens of millions of dollars” and is a slight discount to remain with the company. In addition to hosting both the football and basketball editions of College GameDay, Davis calls football and basketball games for ESPN as well.
While FOX Sports had been successful previously in signing former ESPN talent and including them on Big Noon Kickoff, including Tom Rinaldi and Chris Fallica, Davis reportedly made the decision to stay with ESPN. If Davis had chosen to join FOX Sports, he would have reportedly replaced host Rob Stone on the show while leading FIFA Men’s World Cup coverage in 2026 and also calling college basketball for the company.
FOX Sports has additional changes taking place on its college football announcing team concurrent with the departure of analyst Brock Huard from calling games. Huard had worked with Jason Benetti and Allison Williams on game broadcasts last season while hosting the morning drive radio show on Seattle Sports 710 with Mike Salk.
All of this takes place as CBS was reported as expressing interest in ESPN NFL analyst Dan Orlovsky to join its team. Orlovsky declined the opportunity, but he stated earlier in the year that his deal with ESPN was going to expire soon. Moreover, CBS lead college football analyst Gary Danielson will be retiring after the upcoming season, and the company announced that Charles Davis will assimilate into the role. As a result, JJ Watt is going to move from the studio to the broadcast booth, pairing with Ian Eagle to form the No. 2 announcing team on the network.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
