Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean has taken issue with a statement made by 77 WABC owner John Catsimatidis and says she will never appear on the New York station again.
77 WABC host Rita Cosby will host a “no-holds-barred” interview with former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo Tuesday. Dean has been an outspoken critic of the way Cuomo handled the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to the death of both of her in-laws in New York nursing homes.
At the conclusion of Cats & Cosby Monday, Catsimatidis said “Don’t listen to the weather girl” while Cosby promoted the interview.
Dean took to Twitter to share her displeasure with the situation.
“I love my buddy Sid Rosenberg but the guy that owns the station is a sick, mean man that continues to prop up a leader who helped kill thousands of seniors while laughing at our grief,” Dean wrote. “Cuomo, (Melissa) DeRosa, and John Catsimatidis deserve each other.”
I will never go on @77WABCradio again. I love my buddy @sidrosenberg but the guy that owns the station is a sick, mean man that continues to prop up a leader who helped kill thousands of seniors while laughing at our grief. Cuomo, DeRosa and @JCats2013 deserve each other.
In response, Catsimatidis told Dean that he “is not silencing people” and that she is “always welcome to come on 77 WABC”.
We offer Air Time for All 77WABC Believes Listening To ALL Not Silencing People Janice Dean your always welcome to Come on 77WABC State your Case We ALL Grieve Let’s Get to the Truth America is Under Attack John Catsimatidis @77WABCradio@RitaCosby@AJ_Cats_https://t.co/W2XsMNyC9O
Dean posted a video to Twitter Tuesday morning to discuss the matter further, claiming that Cosby had privately shared her displeasure that Dean would discuss the situation publicly.
“Rita Cosby, who’s been a really good friend of mine for the last 20 years, is having Andrew Cuomo on her program tonight on WABC here in New York for the full hour,” Dean said. “I was upset because this station has been platforming Andrew Cuomo and has given his right-hand woman, Melissa DeRosa, a job.
“So I was upset, and I went on Twitter. I said ‘Hey, listen. Can you please have on some grieving families either before or after Andrew Cuomo gaslights New York again about his leadership and how he really failed New Yorkers?’ I got pushback. Rita contacted me and said she was upset with me and asked if I would talk to her. I was going to talk to her on the phone yesterday and tell her about some of the grieving families that are upset with her about her interview tonight with Andrew Cuomo.
“Then I heard that John Catsimatidis, the billionaire owner of WABC Radio — who claims that he wants to give a voice for all, despite never inviting grieving families — he called me ‘the weather girl’ and to not listen to me…So, WABC is trying to silence myself and all of the grieving families that want justice and accountability when it comes to our loved ones. Calling me ‘the weather girl’ only emboldens me more, and I’m going to speak louder than ever. Buckle up, WABC, Rita Cosby, and John Catsimatidis. I used to go on the program with Sid Rosenberg, my buddy from the (Don) Imus days, a lot. I will never go on WABC again of my own choice.”
The sports media was celebrated Monday night in New York City. The 44th annual Sports Emmys ceremony took place at Jazz at Lincoln Center.
NATAS President and CEO Adam Sharp acknowledged that the ceremony looked a little different. Out of respect for the WGA and their writers’ strike, many of the show’s scripted elements had been eliminated.
“The business challenges of the changing media landscape are like none we’ve seen before,” he told those in attendance. “And yet, the individual economics of making a career in our industry — starting out in our industry — can be impossible to square. Between these two realities, the generation coming up needs our industry to sow a field of common ground, not scorched earth.”
Awards were handed out in 47 categories. Among them was a lifetime achievement award, which was accepted by HBO’s Bryant Gumbel.
ESPN led the way amongst the networks, taking home thirteen trophies. Some of its biggest wins included Best Live Sports Series for Monday Night Football, Best Studio Analyst for Ryan Clark, Best Sports Event Analyst for Peyton Manning and Best Play-by-Play for Mike Breen.
FOX came in second amongst the networks with nine Sports Emmys. FOX NFL Sunday won Best Weekly Studio Show, but most of the network’s big wins were connected to coverage of the FIFA World Cup last fall.
The World Cup and the 2022 Winter Olympics were the big event winners. Coverage of the events netted three awards for FOX and NBC respectively.
A newly established political action committee (PAC) is launching an effort to encourage former Fox News host Tucker Carlson to run for president. According to The Hill, The PAC, known as the Draft Tucker PAC, recently filed official documentation with the Federal Election Commission following Carlson’s departure from Fox News.
In an advertisement unveiled last week, the PAC commends Carlson for criticizing “woke nonsense” and aims to push the Republican presidential field towards a more conservative stance. The ad will air on Newsmax for one week.
It states, “The Republican Party needs a fresh leader, and Tucker Carlson is prepared to assume that role. Among all individuals in the country, nobody articulates their views more effectively or confronts left-leaning individuals from both major parties as skillfully as Tucker.”
The advertisement compares Tucker Carlson and the late radio personality Rush Limbaugh. It praises Carlson’s cleverness, keenness, and inclination to ridicule “woke nonsense.” The ad further asserts that Carlson would outperform President Biden in a debate.
Chairing the PAC is Chris Ekstrom, who previously ran for a congressional seat in Texas as a Republican candidate and is also a financial supporter of the PAC. Ekstrom mentioned that he has a peripheral acquaintance with Carlson and was approached about forming the PAC before Carlson departed from Fox News.
However, at the time, Ekstrom deemed it impractical due to Carlson’s role as a primetime host. Now that this concern no longer exists, Ekstrom believes that a Carlson presidential campaign is a “realistic opportunity.” He expressed his dissatisfaction with former President Trump and Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida, stating that neither fully meets his expectations.
“I’m very concerned that they’re going to not move the debate as far right as it ought to be,” Ekstrom said. “If Tucker Carlson entered the race in a reasonable amount of time and just continued in the same territory that he was covering at Fox, I think that’d be a rude awakening for President Trump and Governor DeSantis.”
Charlie Kolean, a political consultant affiliated with the GOP, serves as the executive director of the PAC. Kolean believes that voters’ enthusiasm for Carlson could ripple effect on the rest of the primary field. “I believe it will shift the overall conversation towards the right, prompting candidates to adopt more firm positions instead of aligning with moderate Republicanism,” Kolean stated in an interview with The Hill.
Despite Carlson consistently dismissing the notion of running for the presidency, stating in 2021 that he would only do so if he were “the last person on earth,” and even joking about it recently, his supporters persist in urging him to enter the race. Following Carlson’s departure from Fox News, Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican candidate, and businessman, expressed his belief that Carlson would be a valuable addition to the presidential race.
The PAC’s endeavor faced intense criticism from a reliable source connected to Tucker Carlson. The source vehemently stated, “Tucker has consistently and explicitly stated that he is not running for president. Whoever is behind this group is attempting to profit quickly and should feel ashamed, and no one should contribute to this PAC.”
However, Ekstrom, undeterred by skepticism, sought to refute doubts surrounding the initiative.
According to syndicated talk show host Mark Levin, the mainstream media has assumed the role of activists, disregarding the Durham Report.
Recently, special counsel John Durham released a comprehensive 306-page document outlining the handling of the Trump-Russia investigation by federal agents. Levin made his comments on his national show, The Mark Levin Show.
The report exposed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation provided misinformation to the media, which ultimately turned out to be untrue. Despite this, the press published falsehoods, nonetheless.
“We have a press that has determined that they are going to use the First Amendment to advance a radical left agenda,” said Levin. “In doing so, has decided that that agenda can only be established through one party, the Democrat party.”
Levin claimed that media organizations such as The Washington Post, The New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, ABC, and CBS exclusively employ journalists with activist tendencies.
“The Republicans they hire cover obituaries or are outnumbered significantly,” he said. “This is what they are being taught in journalism school, and of course, when you see Democrats secrete themselves within the media like [Jen] Psaki over at MSNBC, and you go down the list, it’s not a free press, and it’s not a free press by the conduct of the press. The press becomes a propaganda operation for the Democrats.”
Levin pointed out the apparent bias in the one-sided coverage of news stories about Hillary Clinton, President Joe Biden, and former President Donald Trump.
“You see it in the disparate treatment on how they report on Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill,” said Levin. “The media has taken the final step. The media are activists on behalf of the Democrat party, which is why most of the media blew off the Durham Report.”
During a Sunday episode of his podcast Club Random with Bill Maher, renowned comedian Bill Maher hailed podcaster Joe Rogan as the modern-day equivalent of Larry King, capturing the essence of King’s legendary status.
The discussion arose while Maher engaged in a conversation with fellow comedian Kathy Griffin, who expressed her admiration for King and suggested that Anderson Cooper could have seamlessly continued his legacy in the coveted six o’clock hour.
“Joe Rogan is not exactly like Larry King, but each generation has its own version of that role,” remarked Maher via a transcript published on Mediate.
He emphasized that while there are differences between Rogan and King, Rogan’s massive audience surpasses that of King’s in its magnitude.
Comedian Kathy Griffin mentioned King’s tendency to conduct softball interviews. Maher agreed, stating, “I feel like Joe Rogan does something similar—not necessarily softball interviews, but he’s not seeking confrontation and is willing to give people a platform.” Maher further added, “Even those whom some form of establishment might criticize for speaking out.”
Griffin raised the question of why Joe Rogan wouldn’t be regarded as an “establishment.” In response, Bill Maher pointed out that Rogan possesses credentials and a willingness to host diverse guests, indicating his non-establishment nature. Maher drew a parallel, stating, “I would say he is our generation’s Larry King, similar to the transitions from Carson to Letterman, Leno, and Fallon. That show has evolved significantly.”
“What Joe does, he opens that mic like Larry did. Elon Musk will do that show and be like the biggest people in the world because they know of the reach. And I think also Joe earned that. It’s like this is just a regular guy smarter than the average bear, but is not gonna be intimidated first of all by you saying, don’t platform this guy or don’t listen to this and will let anybody speak and usually has a common sense view of it, of his own. You know, he’s a little to the right of where I am on things,” Maher said.
Sharri Berg, president of FOX Weather, announced that Mark Kimoto has been chosen as the recipient of the second annual scholarship offered by FOX Weather in collaboration with Mississippi State University.
According to a news release, the scholarship, part of a long-standing partnership between FOX Weather and Mississippi State, was initially introduced in November 2021. The previous scholarship recipient, Haley Meier, will graduate in July and join FOX Weather as a meteorologist and multimedia journalist.
Berg expressed pride in supporting the upcoming generation of meteorologists and eagerly anticipated Haley’s full-time integration into the FOX Weather team while extending support to Mark in his academic pursuits. The enduring collaboration with Mississippi State’s esteemed STEM program was commended, and FOX Weather expressed enthusiasm for continuing the partnership.
Kimoto expressed his gratitude, “Being chosen as the recipient of FOX Weather’s annual scholarship is a true honor. The opportunities accompanying this program are immense, and I couldn’t be more thrilled. This scholarship will provide me with the means to continue my education more comfortably, and I am eternally thankful.”
In his sophomore year at Mississippi State, Kimoto is pursuing a degree in Geoscience with a specialization in Professional Meteorology and a minor in Communication. He is an active member of both the East Mississippi Chapter of the National Weather Association and the American Meteorological Society. Notably, he served on a committee organizing the Southeast Severe Storms Symposium. Kimoto has also undergone training as a SKYWARN weather spotter under the National Weather Service.
Originally from Plainview, New York, he graduated from Syosset High School on Long Island in 2022. In 2020, he achieved the rank of Eagle Scout through the Boy Scouts of America and was recognized as a National Merit Commended Student in 2021.
As an integral component of their enduring collaboration, FOX Weather and Mississippi State University have established a scholarship program aimed at fostering the development of the meteorology field. This perpetually endowed scholarship encompasses various provisions, including a FOX Weather internship opportunity and the guidance of a dedicated FOX Weather meteorologist who will serve as a mentor throughout the duration of the scholarship.
Preference for this esteemed scholarship is given to undergraduate students who have demonstrated outstanding academic performance with a minimum GPA of 3.0 or above. The scholarship funds will be allocated towards supporting Kimoto’s educational expenses for the upcoming academic year of 2023-2024.
During last season’s VRBO Fiesta Bowl, Robert Griffin III was part of ESPN’s alternate telecast at field level alongside Pat McAfee. Suddenly, the Heisman Trophy winner took a phone call. Once he hung up the phone, Griffin divulged that his wife had gone into labor and proceeded to sprint off of the field to catch a flight. An ESPN cameraperson documented his run and jubilation as he returned home to welcome his daughter, Gia, into the world. It encapsulated just what motivates Griffin to appear on television and discuss football, and why he is one of ESPN’s budding talents with the chance to make an impact on sports media and his community for years to come.
“This was an opportunity for me to go out and be different in the way that the media covers the players and truly get to the bottom of telling the players’ stories the right way,” Griffin said. “I look at this as an opportunity to do that.”
Griffin was a three-sport athlete as a student at Copperas Cove High School, and ultimately broke Texas state records in track and field. In addition to that, he played basketball and was the starting quarterback for the school’s football team as a junior and senior, drawing attention from various schools around the country. He ended up graduating high school one semester early and quickly became a star at Baylor University in both football and track and field.
Robert Griffin III’s nascent talent was hardly inconspicuous, evidenced by being named the 2008 Big 12 Conference Offensive Freshman of the Year and then, three years later, the winner of the Heisman Trophy. In the end, he graduated having set or tied 54 school records and helped the program to its first bowl game win in 19 years.
Ultimately, he transitioned to the NFL in a career with many trials and tribulations, but through it all, he never lost his sense of persistence. Nearly a decade later, he returned to college, but this time as a member of the media covering the game from afar. Unlike a majority of former players though, Griffin did not formally retire from playing football when inking a broadcasting contract with ESPN.
“I haven’t retired yet at all,” he said. “I tell everyone that asks me the question that I train every day [and] I’m prepared to play if that call does come. I’ve had some talks with teams over the past two years; just nothing has come to fruition.”
While Griffin’s focus as a broadcaster is undeniable, he never thought about seriously pursuing sports media until his broadcast agent pushed him to do so. He was urged to take an audition at FOX Sports. Griffin broke down highlights and called a mock NFL game alongside lead play-by-play announcer Kevin Burkhardt. He was not prepared for that second part, but impressed executives and precipitously realized a career in the space may not be so outlandish after all.
Griffin then moved to ESPN where he experienced a similar audition process, this time calling a game with play-by-play announcer Rece Davis. Once the audition concluded, it was determined that Griffin would not only begin working in the industry, but that he would be accelerated because of his ability to communicate in an informative and entertaining style.
As a player, he saw the way media members covered teams – sometimes bereft of objectivity – and therefore saw assimilating into the industry as a chance to change that. Now, he is focused on telling the stories of the players en masse while being prepared to pivot at a moment’s notice.
Courtesy: ESPN Images
ESPN’s intention was to implement Griffin on its studio coverage, but once executives heard him in the broadcast booth, the company had a palpable shift in its thinking. He was told he was ready to go out into the field and start calling games immediately, something of a surprise to him. FOX Sports felt similarly. This led to a bidding war between the two entities, which ultimately concluded with Griffin inking a contract with ESPN. He appeared over its airwaves plenty of times as a player, and even participated on a variety of studio shows in 2018 where he was almost permanently placed on NFL Live. This time around though, Griffin was suddenly preparing to work with Mark Jones and Quint Kessenich on college football games. He did not have time to consider the implications of the decision, instead diving headfirst into the craft and remaining focused on what was to come with producer Kim Belton and director Anthony DeMarco at his side.
“These guys took me under their wing, and I’m beyond indebted to them for that,” Griffin said of his colleagues. “They taught me everything that I know about the industry. They taught me everything I know about how to present things to the masses to where it can be easily digestible. They’ve allowed me to allow my personality to shine through.”
Demonstrating his personality was a facet of his makeup Griffin felt was inhibited by playing professional football, but he knows it would have been considerably more difficult to attain a chance to cover the game had he not laced up his cleats. Calling college football games with Jones accentuated his comfort in the booth because of Jones’ adept skill to appeal to the viewers and penetrate beyond the sport.
“He has the way to connect different generations of listeners to hear what he’s saying and perceive it in the same way,” Griffin said. “To me, that’s what we all strive to do in this industry is to be able to find the connective tissue between the fan who is 60 or 70 years old, and the fan who’s in their late teens or early 20s.”
From the beginning, everyone told Griffin to be himself and not adopt an alternate persona in front of the camera. That advice has guided him as he approaches his third year working in the industry.
“It is so hard to maintain a character or try to be someone that you’re not, but if you are who you are every single day, then every time you show up on camera you will be that person,” Griffin said. “I’ve made sure that when I stepped foot in front of that camera, I was going to be myself.”
Griffin identifies his style as pedagogical to a degree, critiquing players as if he was coaching them on the sidelines. He will never look to penetrate beyond football with his criticism, as drawing conclusions and using unrelated parlance could be viewed as indecorous. In short, Griffin III knows what it means to represent ESPN.
“We’re not a gossip website. We’re supposed to be critically acclaimed, prestigious journalists, and at the end of the day, that’s how I try to approach the job that I do. That’s why I got into the business – because I felt like there was a little of that going on, especially during my career, so I would never do to somebody else what was done to me.”
Over the course of his NFL career, Griffin was subject to immense criticism that went significantly beyond the gridiron. For example, sports commentator Rob Parker suggested that Griffin was not fully representative of the Black community and proceeded to question if he was a “cornball brother.” The incident resulted in Parker receiving a 30-day suspension from ESPN, and after he defended his comments and blamed First Take producers in a subsequent interview, the network decided not to renew his contract.
“My goal as a member of the media is to tell players’ stories the right way, and if I don’t know you personally, I’m never going to make it personal,” Griffin said. “Even if I do know you personally, I’m not going to bring that to the broadcast because that’s not my job.”
In addition to broadcasting college football games with Jones on ESPN and ABC, he also appears on-site for Monday Night Countdown, the network’s pregame show leading up to Monday Night Football. Making the decision to add NFL coverage to his slate of responsibilities meant that Griffin would be able to tell more stories and utilize his knowledge of players during their collegiate careers to enhance the broadcast.
The energy that he felt attending tailgates and interacting with fans at the college level gave him a unique skill set to translate to the NFL side, leading him to present the production team with an unparalleled idea for Week 1. He wanted to race Taima the Hawk, the live game mascot for the Seattle Seahawks who flies around Lumen Field prior to the start of each home game. It was an outlandish idea, but one that made sense for television because of the visual appeal it can present.
“If you know anything about hawks, they can fly up to 120-140 miles per hour, so they’re like, ‘There’s no way he’s going to beat this hawk in a race, but we’ll do it,’” Griffin said. “To that crew’s credit, they never once balked at any of the creative ideas that I brought to the table because they want to try different things and be exciting and have fun on the show.”
Griffin ended up winning the race, commencing the new season of Monday Night Countdown with immediate excitement before the Seahawks’ matchup against the Denver Broncos. He thoroughly enjoyed his first year on the show and having the chance to work alongside Suzy Colber, Adam Schefter, Booger McFarland, Steve Young, Larry Fitzgerald and Alex Smith.
“They always tell me, ‘Hey, anything you’re not comfortable with, you just let us know and we won’t do that thing,’” Griffin said of the show’s producers. “My answer always back to them is, ‘Well, I won’t know if I’m uncomfortable with it if I don’t try.’”
While Griffin had what looked like a seamless assimilation into the broadcasting world, he had a difficult moment when using a racial slur on live television in discussing Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts. The clip quickly gained traction across the internet, and Griffin issued an apology on his Twitter account for using the pejorative language and claimed that he misspoke.
“I was shocked that it came out in the way that it did, and I immediately jumped on it and apologized because there’s no need to deny,” he said. “You messed up. You move forward, and I think that’s the easiest way to get over those types of things and to get back on your feet.”
The football season at both the college and professional level is undoubtedly a grind, and it requires a combination of dedication, passion and persistence few people possess. Robert Griffin III has garnered the reputation of being an “overpreparer,” often partaking in considerably more information than necessary to execute a broadcast. The information he consumes and conclusions he draws combined with his experience at both levels has cultivated him into a knowledgeable analyst who makes cogent, intelligible points on the air.
“I over-prepare for everything, and 70% of the information that I soak in going into a game or going into a broadcast for Monday Night Countdown, I don’t use because there’s just not enough air time,” Griffin III said. “There’s not enough opportunities to talk on it all.”
At the same time, he makes a concerted effort to make the most of his time with his family and separate himself from the field, engaging in activities including playing ping pong, going to the movies and supporting his children. He also embarks in charity work through his RG3 Foundation and strives to teach his daughters the importance of giving back. The mission of the nonprofit foundation is to discover and design programs for underprivileged youth, struggling military families and victims of domestic violence, and it has made a significant impact since it was launched in 2015.
“Trying to end food insecurity; making sure that our under-resourced youth have access to the things that they need just to survive – talking about food, clothes, books, the ability to learn [and] putting on these after-school programs,” Griffin elucidated in describing the organization’s mission. “We want to have an impact on our community. We mean that with everything in us and have shown that to be the true case of why we do this.”
Griffin’s wife, Grete, serves as the executive director of the foundation and also runs her own fitness business. Staying physically and mentally in shape is something they actively try to accomplish in their everyday lives, and lessons they are passing down to their daughters.
“I’m 33 years old right now, so if I want to continue to train every single day, I can do that for the next 10 years if I need to,” Griffin said. “Not taking hits and being physically fit is also a good thing for your own health, which is something me and my wife are extremely passionate about.”
Although his experience is in playing football and working in sports media, Robert Griffin III does not believe in limiting himself and would consider exploring opportunities outside of sports and entertainment. He wants to become the best broadcaster possible no matter where he is working in the industry and continue finding new ways to be distinctive en masse.
“We’re storytellers,” he said. “We’re here to break down things [and] to tell people a story the right way; things that people are interested in, and that expands across all media levels. We’re not closing the door on anything from that standpoint.”
Courtesy: ESPN Images
While he was playing in the NFL, Griffin dealt with a variety of injuries that ultimately kept him off the football field and made it difficult to display his talents. Ranging from an ACL tear, shoulder scapula fracture and hairline fracture in his right thumb, staying healthy was a challenge for him over the time he played in the NFL.
Through surgeries and rehabilitation, he learned how to face and overcome these challenges. It has shaped him into the broadcaster and person he is today as he looks to set a positive example to aspiring football players and broadcasters everywhere.
“The eight-year career that I was able to have thus far didn’t come without roadblocks in the way [and] didn’t come without adversity. Learn from the adversity that you go through and learn from all the things and the lessons that you have that sports teaches you, and then go be able to present that to the masses.”
The Denver Nuggets completed their sweep of the L.A. Lakers in the Western Conference Finals on Monday night, advancing to the NBA Finals for the first time ever.
On FOX Sports Radio earlier that day, Colin Cowherd responded to Nuggets fans who have lashed out at Cowherd and others in the media for perceived disrespect of the team and the success they’ve had this season.
Cowherd said being leery of Denver’s ability to rise to the moment on the sport’s biggest stage isn’t meant to be interpreted as rooting against them. He has history on his side.
“It’s not disrespectful to respect history,” Cowherd said. “There’s a history in the NBA when you get these young, really talented teams that can look like they can win a championship.”
Cowherd cited multiple examples including the Russell Westbrook/Kevin Durant era with the Oklahoma City Thunder, the James Harden-led Houston Rockets, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and the L.A. Clippers, this year’s Celtics and the early 2000s Sacramento Kings. He said it’s easy to look at how things panned out for teams similar to the Nuggets when they find themselves on the cusp of immortality and question whether they have it in them to win it all.
“When the Denver Nuggets are rising and ascending with young stars, it’s OK for us to go, ‘Well I don’t know. Let’s see what they’re like on the big stage,'” he said. “Now they’ve been very good on the big stage, but we didn’t know.”
Colin also drew a comparison of the Nuggets to the Milwaukee Bucks before they won their 2021 championship. All the pieces are there, but you just never know when they go up against a more experienced team.
“It’s not disrespectful,” Cowherd said. “We didn’t know if the young guys would step to the table.”
Warner Bros. Discovery is planning to scale back its workforce further in the coming months, reports indicated Monday. This comes on the heels of layoffs announced last week which affected the company’s sports digital department.
The new job cuts are expected to impact those working on the cable TV side. Yahoo reporting suggests roles at Discovery-branded networks are also to be cut. Those networks include Discovery Channel, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Science Channel, Animal Planet, Food Network, HGTV, TNT, TBS and truTV.
In 2022, there were several reductions in staff in the area of Warner Bros. Television. Around 70 jobs were eliminated. About 50 jobs were cut in the sports digital department last week.
It’s unclear when exactly people will start to be shown the door, but the belief is that it will begin this summer.
The Big Ten made plenty of headlines last year when the conference announced its new media rights deal with CBS, NBC and FOX, but apparently, as the new contract gets set to go into effect, there have been questions raised about former commissioner Kevin Warren and how the deal was negotiated.
Warren recently stepped down as commissioner of the Big Ten and accepted a job to be the president of the Chicago Bears. On ESPN 1000 in Chicago, hosts John “Jurko” Jurkovic and Carmen DeFalco were trying to figure out how the problems persisting in the conference with the media rights deal correlate to Warren’s ability to do his job with the Bears.
“Am I supposed to care about any of this?” DeFalco asked on Monday. “I’m not even being facetious.”
Jurkovic said one of the main reasons Warren was hired by the Bears was to help the franchise with its plans to build a new stadium in Arlington Heights, a Chicago suburb. Warren was instrumental in the construction and development of U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis when he was the COO of the Minnesota Vikings.
“If Minnesota was crying about their facility being built, or how it was built, and they had some complaints about the way Kevin Warren handled that, that would be of greater concern to me than what the Big Ten wants to cry about now,” Jurko said.
DeFalco wondered if he should consider the story more worthy of discussion, but he wasn’t sure.
“Maybe I should be more concerned than I am. I’m just not that concerned right now,” he said. “Maybe I’m dismissing it too much.”
Jurko said that Warren probably got tired of having to cater to leadership at all the member schools on top of everything else that comes with running a college conference. He probably welcomed any chance to get back into the NFL.
“Let me paint you a picture,” Jurko said. “You’re the commissioner of the Big Ten. What do you think you have every Monday morning, or every Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon, every Saturday night after college football games and everything? What do you think he gets? He gets 14 athletic directors bitching, moaning and crying and then he gets 14 presidents crying and moaning and bitching about this and that.
“At what point do you think Kevin Warren was like, ‘You know what, I gotta get the H outta here when I can,'” he added. “And when the Bears opportunity probably presented itself he was like, ‘Thank God!'”
