Mike Greenberg recently signed a new deal with ESPN that will make him "one of the highest-paid sports personalities" at the net, earning more than $6.5M a year, according to James Andrew Miller of the HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. CAA's Nick Khan negotiated the deal for Greenberg (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, 1/6 issue). SI.com's Richard Deitsch wrote the terms of that contract likely means that ESPN’s "exploration of moving" Greenberg into a new role as the lead host of a TV show that would air between 6:00-10:00am ET on ESPN is "clearly moving ahead." It "seems very unlikely that ESPN would pay Greenberg that kind of money merely to continue his radio program and a simulcast on ESPN2." One can "speculate that CAA brought in another suitor (Greenberg is repped by the same agent who reps FS1’s Skip Bayless and Colin Cowherd, and CAA Sports is tight with FS1 officials) to get ESPN to pay up." Bayless "set the market for morning talkers when he landed a contract in the neighborhood" of $5.5M per for four years, plus a $4M signing bonus. Greenberg, who has co-hosted "Mike & Mike" for 18 years, has "logged hundreds of thousands of quality hours for ESPN and the network has been good about repaying that loyalty back with cash and opportunity." This would appear to be a time when the 49-year-old Greenberg "would want to try something new" (SI.com, 12/18).
