Dan Patrick made headlines last week for announcing that his show would end after 2027. He came back the next day though and admitted that he forgot to give the reason for the announcement. He had just signed a new contract, which he intends to be his last.
On Tuesday, iHeartMedia and NBC Sports made the news official. The companies announced that Patrick and his crew have renewed their multiplatform distribution deal. The radio show is distributed through iHeartMedia’s FOX Sports Radio. The video simulcast is available on NBC’s Peacock. Satellite radio listeners will be able to the NBC Sports Audio Channel on SiriusXM channel 85.
“I could not be more excited to extend each of my partnerships with NBC Sports/Peacock and iHeartRadio’s Fox Sports Radio Network for many years to come, and I am thrilled that this announcement is being made jointly,” Patrick said in a press release. “I love doing my show every day with the Danettes and the rest of my team. We work hard to deliver for our loyal fans, and I’m honored that they keep inviting us into their lives every day. I want to thank Rick Cordella, Julie Talbott and Bob Pittman for their continued belief and passion in my show. I also want to say thank you to my agent, Paul Anderson of Workhouse Media, for doing his job to get these deals done while I focused on doing mine for our fans.”
“The Dan Patrick Show has built a loyal following due to its unique combination of sports expertise, unmatched humor, and interviews with the most sought-after guests in sports and entertainment,” added Rick Cordella, President, Programming, NBC Sports and Peacock Sports. “Dan is quite simply one of the most talented and entertaining sports hosts of all time with the rare ability to authentically connect with his audience. With this agreement, Dan and the Danettes will entertain Peacock’s growing sports audience for years to come.”
In addition to the radio and video shows, Patrick also has his podcast network. As part of the new deal, iHeartMedia will continue to produce and distribute that content. Shows on the network include Dan Patrick Takes a Gamble and More to it With Marcellus Wiley.
“Dan Patrick is one of the biggest stars in sports media and entertainment, and we couldn’t be happier to extend our partnership,” said Julie Talbott, President of Premiere Networks. “Dan continues to raise the bar. He’s built a loyal following across multiple platforms by producing the highest-quality content, and he continues to deliver remarkable results for our partners. We look forward to working together for the foreseeable future.”
The BNM Summit continues to add firepower to what is already a star studded lineup. The two-day event is just 51 days away from taking place at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. If you’ve been asleep for the past few months and missed the announcements about our event, you can see the full list of speakers at BNMSummit.com. On the website you can also purchase tickets to the event, and find details on a special hotel rate set up for attendees courtesy of the Homewood Suites by Hilton, our hotel partner for the 2023 BNM Summit.
Before I fill you in on the latest three lineup additions, I’d like to take a moment to thank Stone Voiceovers, Audacy, Collette Travel Services, Core Image Studio, and JJ Surma Voiceovers for coming on board as conference partners. Their support goes a long way towards making sure events like this remain possible. Stephanie Eads has other opportunities still available, and is having conversations with groups every day, so if you’re interested in being involved as a conference partner, please email Sales@BarrettSportsMedia.com.
Now that the business has been taken care of, let’s fill you in on the three latest additions.
Chad Benson doesn’t look or sound like a typical talk radio host, and that’s served him well for over twenty two years. His conversational, informative and funny take on the issues has helped him enjoy steady success in Phoenix on KTAR News 92.3FM, and across the country through his national program, The Chad Benson Show, distributed by Radio America. Chad’s ability to understand the challenges associated with local and national talk programming will be on display when he joins us in Nashville on Wednesday September 13th.
Jeremy Sinon will also be with us in Nashville, taking part in a digital panel on Thursday September 14th. Jeremy serves as the VP of Digital Strategy for Hubbard Radio, operating out of Minneapolis. His ability to look toward the future and plan for what’s to come has helped Hubbard conquer many modern-day digital challenges. He played a key role in Hubbard’s designing and building of their own proprietary streaming platform and mobile apps, and has strong instincts when it comes to using emerging digital technologies to help radio grow and stay current with modern trends. We’re looking forward to having Jeremy shed light on ways brands can get maximize their digital performance.
Last but not least is a man who is no stranger to BNM readers. He’s also familiar to many in programming circles. Andy Bloom is president of Andy Bloom Communications, specializing in media training and political communications. He has programmed legendary stations such as WIP, WPHT and WYSP in Philadelphia, KLSX in Los Angeles, and WCCO in Minneapolis. He was also Vice President of Programming for Emmis International, Greater Media Inc. and Coleman Research. Known for his strong opinions and desire to see brands enjoy maximum return on their programming choices, Andy will be in the room both days, and on stage Wednesday September 13th.
With Benson, Bloom, and Sinon added to our schedule, we now have 27 speakers participating in the BNM Summit. We’ll have additional announcements to make over the next few weeks too. Our goal is to release our full agenda for the show in mid to late August. We’ll also be sending out a document to attendees prior to the show (usually a week out) with details of who will be in the room. We do this so folks can plan meetings in advance, and make time to say hello to friends, acquaintances or people in the business who they’ve not had the pleasure of connecting with.
The BNM Summit in Nashville is shaping up to be a strong two-day affair. I hope you’ll make time to join us. If you do, be sure to say hello.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House Press Secretary of Joe Biden, has been selected as the inaugural recipient of Outfest’s Press and Media Achievement Award. However, Jean-Pierre has decided not to attend the ceremony to show her support for the ongoing strike by actors and writers in Hollywood.
Accoridng to Deadline, The 41st Outfest Los Angeles Summer Festival will acknowledge her contribution, but instead of attending, she has chosen to have a statement read on her behalf during the closing ceremony on July 23rd.
It is possible that Jean-Pierre chose not to attend the event due to the decision made by actors Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone, who announced their decision to skip the event in support of the Hollywood strikers. Damien Navarro, the Executive Director of Outfest, acknowledged their absence and expressed his regret in a statement, saying that he understands the reason for their absence.
The event will still proceed as planned and will include the presentation of the new LGBTQIAP2S+ achievement award. This award is part of the newly launched Outfest Inclusive Press Initiative for LGBTQIAP2S+ entertainment journalists, which will provide financial support to help journalists cover Hollywood. A group of young journalists will participate in the inaugural program.
“Outfest is thrilled to recognize the continued contributions of Karine Jean-Pierre for her barrier-breaking and historic achievement in Press and Media,” said Outfest Board Co-President Nii-Quartelai Quartey. “Throughout her career, the Black and LGBTQ+ community has been reminded of what is possible. Our fellow Americans have been reminded of our humanity and inherent dignity. Our Outfest Press Fellows have been inspired.”
Jean-Pierre has made efforts to maintain a connection with Hollywood. However, she faced criticism in March for allegedly undermining the seriousness of the White House press briefing. This occurred when she brought in actors from the Apple TV+ series, Ted Lasso, to promote the upcoming third season and discuss mental health.
Before Jorge Sedano graduated from Florida International University in 1999, he earned an internship with SportsLine USA. The company partnered with Sports Fan to create the Sports Fan Radio Network, which featured programming syndicated to local radio stations around the country. The broadcast outlet was home to future stars including Craig Carton and Brandon Tierney.
Sedano interned with the afternoon show, The Drive, co-hosted by Sid Rosenberg and Scott Kaplan. Today, Kaplan is a co-host of the afternoon drive program on ESPN LA 710, and he happens to be behind the microphone alongside his former intern.
“It’s a very, very small business, but that internship really got me kind of headed in the right direction from a sports radio perspective,” Sedano said. “I started to kind of take opportunities that came about in sports radio locally in South Florida, and just kind of built the career from there.”
Sedano’s first program director, Manny Munoz, afforded him clarity when he made the jump to WAFN and took the air. At the time, the station was heard at 1700 AM, which was considered part of the experimental end of the dial. The call letters of the station align with those of WFAN, the station that pioneered the sports talk format, in New York City. This was hardly a coincidence though since WAFN syndicated the hit morning drive show, Imus in the Morning, along with select WFAN programming.
The station folded in 2001, as did the Sports Fan Radio Network. Everything Sedano had diligently worked to attain was adroitly snatched away, but he still needed to make a living. No one would hire Sedano in radio, but his friend brought him on as a courier. While he was grateful to be employed, he felt considerably afflicted by the previous succession of events and impugned his external perception.
“I was in the car all day,” Sedano said. “I was listening to sports talk radio and only thinking to myself, ‘I’m better than that guy that’s on the air right now,’ and that’s the type of stuff that would swirl in my head. While it was obviously helpful to have a job to pay bills, it was also torturous because I would listen to people that I felt like I was definitely better than in a lot of cases.”
Nine months later, Sedano made it back to the radio studios with Clear Channel on WINZ-AM where he demonstrated his talent and quickly earned the afternoon drive hosting slot. Upon his return, Sedano immersed himself in the local teams as a beat reporter for the outlet. All of that work got him on the radar of FOX Sports Radio Network.
WIOD-AM, a news station, happened to have the live game broadcast radio rights for the Miami Heat. Sedano auditioned for the team’s studio hosting job, which would make him responsible for anchoring the pregame and postgame shows. Ultimately, he ended up landing the coveted position – and to his advantage, it nearly aligned with the team trading for Hall of Fame center Shaquille O’Neal. The entire ordeal changed the trajectory of his career, leading to subsequent opportunities and a renewed sense of poise and determination.
“All that heartache and all that stuff I dealt with when I didn’t have a job and then climbing back up as someone who was like, ‘Hey, whatever job you offer me, I’m going to crush; I’m going to kill it; I’m going to do the best job I could possibly do,’ got me those next opportunities, including being a talk show host again and being involved with the NBA,” Sedano said. “After that, I’ve kind of never looked back.”
During that same year, Jon “Stugotz” Weiner was critical in starting 790 The Ticket, a radio station that connected with younger listeners and rivaled 560 WQAM. Dan Le Batard hosted a program that rapidly gained cache and national attention from the onset, and Sedano arrived three years into his tenure. Le Batard served as inspiration for Sedano as he fostered a distinctive, sonic identity and widespread consonance. Unfortunately for South Florida sports fans, 790 The Ticket shuttered its doors last year, but it left behind an indelible legacy.
“We had kind of what I would call the same sensibilities across the board on the station,” Sedano said of Le Batard. “When I was there, I was doing mornings and he was doing afternoons. I think the biggest compliment I got when I worked there was that it felt like it was just one show all day as opposed to different shows.”
The competition at WQAM was not particularly amenable towards the type of sports radio 790 The Ticket had proffered. Sedano remembers that the outlet used to call his station “sissy boy radio” since it deviated from discussion solely about sports. In reality, the generational change was disquieting for those in traditional outlets, ascertaining it to be threatening to the stability of the medium.
“I learned that you need to have a lot of layers when you’re doing talk radio because you’re on the air for three or four hours a day,” Sedano said. “There has to be a connection with the audience. The sports stuff will do that some of the time, but it’s the personal stuff. It’s the funny stuff that people will take with them and will remember forever.”
Ironically enough, Sedano was named the new program director and afternoon drive host at 560 WQAM in 2012, ending his time with 790 The Ticket. Joining WQAM was particularly special for him because he grew up listening to the area’s original sports station. The outlet catalyzed his infatuation with sports talk radio and being granted the chance to guide its programming approach was a dream come true.
“I remember going to bed listening to WQAM late at night on my alarm clock radio when I was a child,” Sedano said. “I would listen to sports radio well into the overnight because I’d wake up in and out, and I’d listen to guys like Scott Ferrall doing national and J.T. The Brick who I got to work with later on, which is kind of crazy.”
Leading up to his latter years at 790 The Ticket and time at WQAM, Sedano began to ponder over broadening his work to television. Sports coverage was always in demand and Sedano recognized the importance of cultivating versatility. He landed a job at CBS 4 in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area. Sedano was also utilized by CBS Sports as a host for some of its programming and ultimately made the jump to FOX Sports Sun as a studio host on Miami Heat broadcasts during the 2012-13 season. Pat Riley, the longtime president of the Miami Heat, was a source of inspiration for Sedano to always pursue forward progress.
“He’s kind of like Six Degrees of Separation, so I just think he’s an incredibly interesting human being, and the more time I got to spend around him, I noticed that,” Sedano said of Riley. “He always said… something to the effect of, ‘Every 10 years, you should try something new [and] completely different than what you’re used to doing to continue to grow as a human being.’”
Sedano officially joined ESPN in 2013 as the host of Sedano & Stink, a national program on ESPN Radio. The show was syndicated to various local radio stations around the country, amplifying the platform he had and keeping him in familiar territory since Le Batard moved his show to the outlet as well. While he was hosting the program from Bristol, Sedano was frequently utilized as a fill-in host for Mike Greenberg on Mike & Mike and for Colin Cowherd on The Herd.
When Mark Schlereth left ESPN in 2015, Sedano was granted his own solo program called The Sedano Show. He eventually paired with fellow South Florida native Israel Gutierrez on Jorge & Izzy, which lasted for eight months before a programming change that moved Sedano back to local radio.
“I give less bleeps is probably the way I would describe it, whereas when I was young, I was always worried about what the local media columnist would say or if the teams would get mad,” Sedano explained. “Now I don’t care – it is what it is. I think the one thing I bring to the table is you’re always going to get genuine honesty – if you’re a team or a fan or whatever, you know you’re just going to get that, for better or worse.”
Sedano began appearing on ESPN LA 710 as one-third of Mornings with Keyshawn, Jorge and LZ, which featured former NFL star Keyshawn Johnson and writer LZ Granderson. At the same time, he was included across ESPN’s linear studio programming such as Around the Horn, NBA Today and SportsCenter while also working as a sideline reporter for the network’s NBA coverage.
“It is the worldwide leader in sports; it is the destination,” Sedano affirmed about ESPN. “Getting here felt cool, but staying here and trying to carve out a career here, I think, is also cool.”
When he was in college, Sedano would watch the same episode of SportsCenter several times to analyze the hosting styles outfits most popular hosts. Now with changes across programming because of fugacious trends and the incessant flow of content, it is incumbent on him to remain prepared to discuss topics at a moment’s notice. Fortunately for Sedano, he was not included in the round of ESPN talent layoffs that stunned sports media, and he has maintained a relatively consistent presence in the marketplace.
“While I would say consolidation has certainly hurt the business in a lot of ways – there’s no doubt about that – I think the ability to create your own thing and create your own brand is in a completely different place than it was when I was growing up,” Sedano said.
While he was at ESPN in 2014, Sedano noticed that there were moving trucks in front of LeBron James’ Miami home. He lived 10 minutes away and sometimes drove past the area. Once he noticed the trucks, he made a call to James’ representative who told him that he was transporting his cars to Ohio, something he apparently did every summer. Shrewdly enough, Sedano did not dismiss the possibility that James was departing Miami to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Although it may not have been purely incidental and disjunctive, James did indeed depart Miami and resumed his career in Cleveland.
Akin to being observant, Sedano ensures he actively listens when conducting interviews and generates effective follow-up questions. He also frequently ends up extrapolating concealed storylines, but not all of this happens on camera. It leads Sedano to take prudence in asking subjects about sourcing, aiming for direct attribution but occasionally utilizing information on background.
“If you just listen, you’ll be able to engage and move the conversation along in a way that’s more meaningful and more interesting,” Sedano said. “I think that’s the thing that has made me good at the job on the sideline is that, and then the story stuff is also listening and chatting with people and not being afraid to just walk up to somebody and maybe you get shut down.”
Today, Sedano hosts an afternoon drive program with Scott Kaplan on ESPN LA 710, something that originated when he was approached about Kaplan joining the entity altogether. Several months after Sedano vouched for his approval, station management approached him about adding Kaplan to the show with Granderson to fill the void left when Johnson joined Jay Williams and Zubin Mehenti on their national morning show, Keyshawn, JWill and Zubin.
He did not hesitate to sign off on it, as Sedano and Kaplan had previously discussed working together. Granderson exited the station in August 2021, isolating the duo in afternoons – and the show ended up having natural chemistry with an enticing sound.
“I feel like because we had that long-standing relationship, I was able to just tell him, ‘Here’s some thoughts on how I think you should do this,’ and he’s always willing to listen,” Sedano said. “We’re able to listen to each other, and honestly we’re able to make fun of each other and laugh at each other. I think that’s what makes the show successful. There are no sacred cows – we fight like brothers; we laugh like brothers.”
Good Karma Brands acquired ESPN LA 710 in a larger, $15 million transaction with The Walt Disney Company, and Sedano considers the outlet fortunate to have the partnership. ESPN LA 710 and ESPN’s audio division at large recently endured the loss of staffers in layoffs, including Los Angeles program director Amanda Brown, leading industry insiders to question the future of the company’s involvement in the medium.
“Honestly, we couldn’t ask for a better pairing of companies to work together in the audio space with ESPN and Good Karma Brands,” Sedano said. “They both have obviously an incredible track record and just incredible people at the helm, too, working together… It’s an investment in the audio space where a lot of companies are not investing in the audio space, particularly terrestrial radio.”
Sedano does not like to solely focus on quantitative metrics such as the quarterly radio ratings to determine whether or not ESPN LA 710 makes an impression in the marketplace. Throughout his time in Los Angeles, he can see the mobilization of the audience for several station events – including a softball game and the annual Mandy Awards – and feels that since people come to support the outlet, it is adequately carrying out its purpose.
“Whenever we’ve had these events, we get easily one thousand [or] two thousand, and if we had bigger venues, I feel like the demand would be there to have several thousand at some of these events,” Sedano said. “That to me is what shows the success and the lifeblood of the station and how [it] resonates in a big way.”
Just as when he was in Miami, Sedano’s show calculatedly perambulates away from sports in other tangential discussion, including recent discourse about the open Wheel of Fortune hosting job. Although Ryan Seacrest has since been named to the role succeeding Pat Sajak, Sedano’s show producer Lindsey Fotlin noticed those in sports media advocating for his candidacy, including midday host Travis Rodgers. Even though he remains more than happy to take the role, he does not focus on the outside noise because of the demanding nature of his job and endeavor in fatherhood.
“I feel like parenting is a big part of my life right now, and I have young children – [age] 9 and 4 – [and] my wife works in news as a producer on the production side,” Sedano said. “I feel like she and I [would] have a really fun podcast together just about parenting and marriage… maybe that could be on the horizon one day, but I don’t know how soon.”
Aspiring broadcasters have a surfeit of necessary tools to begin practicing their craft and amplify their platform. Whether it is through audio or video, there are methods to create and promulgate content, allowing people to streamline the process and construct a body of work. Finding success in the industry fundamentally comes down to being informative and entertaining while being apt to face new challenges with alacrity and equanimity. Sedano continues to do just that, expanding his media presence beyond the luminosity of Southern California.
“I work in the toy department of media and journalism, which is sports, and that’s my motivation every single day,” Sedano said. “I get to do something that, growing up, if you would have told me this is what I’m going to do for a living, I would have said, ‘I would do it for free.’”
The latest installment of ESPN’s KayRod Cast was on Sunday night, and The Michael Kay Show co-host Don La Greca joined Kay and Alex Rodriguez for an inning and a half toward the end of Boston’s 6-1 win over the New York Mets.
La Greca told Dan Graca, who was filling in for Kay and Peter Rosenberg on Monday, that he had a blast but wasn’t prepared to talk more x’s and o’s.
“It wasn’t what I expected,” he said. “I thought there’d be more frivolity or fun and less analysis. Especially with the game kind of getting out of hand.”
Don explained that he was the fourth guy booked. He said Kay asked him last Friday if he would make an appearance on the broadcast. At that point originally, Mets legend and broadcaster Keith Hernandez and Red Sox legends Johnny Damon and Roger Clemens had already been booked.
By Saturday, La Greca’s appearance time had shifted towards the end of the broadcast, as they booked former Met Mookie Wilson and Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee as well. When Don did appear, he said after two quick half-innings he was surprised they kept him on for a third.
“I was really only expecting a half inning to be honest because they had to squeeze in all these people,” Don said. “And then with it being after 9 o’clock, hey, the game could be over at 9:30. And then I saw that Bill Lee was coming on after me.”
“You’re not bumping Bill Lee,” he added. “You’re not bumping a former Red Sock, you’re not bumping a major league pitcher for me. But not only did they get it all in, I got a lot of time. So that was a lot of fun. That was cool. So thanks to those guys.”
Graca chimed in saying even though the Red Sox seemed to have their win over the Mets securely in hand by the time La Greca appeared, it was important for the sake of the broadcast to slot him in where he was.
“You want somebody like you on late in the game like that,” Graca said. “Which most of America probably was off to sleep if they didn’t like the Mets or the Red Sox.”
“And you kept it going that’s the good thing. That’s the beauty of it,” he added.
When people talk about Apple having a blank checkbook to secure sports broadcasting rights, it doesn’t appear to be hyperbole.
Apple senior vice president of services Eddy Cue told the Daily Mail that the company isn’t just looking at securing rights domestically in the U.S.
“We’re a global company. We have customers in every country in the world,” he said. “And it’s not exciting for me to have something that you can have but you can’t have.”
Apple is paying $595 million over seven years for its deal with MLB for Friday night games, while also paying $2.5 billion over a decade to be the exclusive broadcast home for MLS. The company was a finalist to buy the rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, and it’s also been linked to discussions with the Pac-12 about being a partner in the college sports space.
But the tech giant has its sights set on being a worldwide sports media partner, and it’s taking a different approach to how business gets done in that area.
“This isn’t ‘Hey, I’ve got an opening from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. tonight, and I’m going to put this game on,'” Cue said. “That’s not the way we’re doing it. We’re all-in on this from an investment point of view, so it doesn’t work unless it’s something significant.”
Former WFAN host Mike Francesa said he has immense respect for Howard Cosell and what he did as a broadcaster, but it was interesting to him that Howard initially wasn’t a big fan.
Asked by a listener of his BetRivers podcastThe Mike Francesa Podcast via email if he ever knew Cosell, Francesa said he and Howard were never close. He recalled Cosell not liking how a younger Francesa’s broadcast approach at the time.
“He did not like my early presentation,” Francesa said. “He went after me a couple times where he thought I had too strong of opinions, and it’s funny because he made his whole life on opinions. And I was just getting started, but he came after me a couple times and that was fine. Getting recognized from Howard Cosell, it didn’t matter if it was good or bad.”
Francesa talked about how Cosell had a certain level of arrogance about him. He didn’t find fault in that, especially considering how successful Cosell was. But Francesa felt like Cosell’s bread and butter was in calling football games and being a commentator.
“What Cosell thought was that he was bigger than life. And he was a big personality, nobody’s saying he is not. But it worked for him inside the role where sports was the vehicle,” Francesa said. “The vehicle wasn’t Howard. The vehicle was Howard as a sports commentator. That worked. Howard as the entertainer or Howard as the personality it didn’t work. Not to the nation they couldn’t stand him, and his TV show bombed.”
Mike went on to say that reading highlights on Monday nights on ABC for Monday Night Football was classic Cosell. There was nothing that even came comparably close to what Howard was able to do in that space.
“Cosell would give you unscripted 60 seconds of the most dramatic sports commentary,” he said. “And it would have a setup. It would have a beginning, it would have a middle and it would have an end, and it would be perfectly crafted inside. And he’d go, ‘Back in 30 seconds’ and it was so good. So good. As good as anything I’ve ever heard. That was Howard Cosell.”
NFL training camps have officially started and will soon be kicking into high gear. NFL Network announced Monday that it will provide fans with more than 89 live hours of coverage of camps across the league beginning next week.
Inside Training Camp will be the show fans check out to get in-depth coverage and analysis, as well as player and coach interviews. Andrew Siciliano, Rhett Lewis, Colleen Wolfe and Scott Hanson will host, with Brian Baldinger, Michael Robinson, Steve Smith Sr., Daniel Jeremiah, David Carr, Maurice Jones-Drew, Steve Mariucci, Bucky Brooks, Marc Ross, Scott Pioli, Pep Hamilton, Leslie Frazier and David Shaw all offering analysis.
NFL insiders Ian Rapoport, Mike Garafolo and Tom Pelissero, as well as reporters Judy Battista, Taylor Bisciotti, Sherree Burruss, Jeffri Chadiha, Bridget Condon, Stacey Dales, James Palmer, Omar Ruiz, Jane Slater, Sara Walsh, Cameron Wolfe and Steve Wyche will also contribute to the show.
NFL Total Access will be there to take viewers through the end of the day at camp starting at 6 p.m. MJ Acosta-Ruiz will host. Meanwhile Good Morning Football will continue to set the table for the day at 7 a.m. with Jamie Erdahl, Peter Schrager, Kyle Brandt, Jason McCourty and Will Selva.
Training camp coverage on Saturday and Sunday will be exclusive to NFL+. Coverage begins at 9 a.m. on both days. And NFL Media will continue to offer additional content and analysis on the digital side throughout training camp.
He said that Patrick was one of the few people that can understand and sympathize when he says there is a grind to doing SportsCenter. Van Pelt said he is not itching to leave the show. Instead, he was trying to be realistic about his future when Jimmy Traina asked him how much longer he could see himself hosting the show.
“My contract would run through like ten years of doing it,” Van Pelt said. “Ten years seems like a good time to say, ‘All right, is that the only thing you do? Is that what you do?’ Who knows? Who knows? But look, I love that I get to do this. I still am interested in the things that happen and the stories that happen, and the nights where you get to cover the biggest events feel huge. Then the challenge is on the nights when it doesn’t feel like that, can you still paint the corners? Can you still throw strikes?”
Patrick asked what the truth is behind reports that SVP was going to be the new host of Monday Night Countdown. Richard Deitsch of The Athletic tweeted that the job is Van Pelt’s last week, only to backtrack and say that Van Pelt in the chair is the outcome ESPN wants, but nothing is done yet.
Van Pelt said he didn’t want to be coy. It could happen, but he had more sympathy for athletes that protest a story about them that isn’t accurate.
“It was reported that I was the guy, and other than me not having been offered the job or accepting the job that I haven’t been offered, it was spot on,” he said. “People are congratulating me. It’s very strange. You know, you hear an athlete or somebody in sports say, ‘well, that’s just not true’ and you kind of always think, ‘sure, it is.’ Well, this was a situation where something was reported about me which was not accurate.”
Over the weekend, Twitter owner Elon Musk announced he would change the name, logo, and branding surrounding the social media platform to simply X. 95.5 WSB host Mark Arum isn’t a fan.
“I love Twitter. I was an early adapter,” Arum admitted Monday. “Elon — I know he’s trying to make a buck. I know he’s trying to get his money back for his investment, but some of his changes have been head-scratching.”
Arum continued by noting that he’s not an expert in the field, but it still doesn’t make sense on the surface.
“I don’t have a marketing degree. I took marketing classes in college as part of my communications thing. I’m not a marketing expert, but I just don’t — Twitter is one of the most recognizable brands in the world. I don’t understand the logic in changing from Twitter to X.”
The Atlanta host then argued that changing the name from Twitter to X would be like WSB changing its brand after more than 100 years of recognition, or Coca-Cola deciding it would rather be known as “Pop City”.
“I understand he’s tinkering with his toy. But I don’t understand the logic of changing the name. Maybe make it Twitter X. Keep the Twitter there,” stated Arum. “X Twitter or something. I don’t understand. That’s a billion-dollar brand — $44 billion brand — that he paid for. I don’t understand the logic of changing Twitter’s name. Someone explained it to me like I’m six.”
