Menu
Media

News From Bristol: ESPN Expected To Re-Sign NFL Analyst Louis Riddick

SI.com's Richard Deitsch reported ESPN is "expected to announce" that NFL analyst Louis Riddick has "re-signed with the network and will have an expanded role heading forward." His assignments will include "Sunday NFL Countdown," "Monday Night Countdown," "NFL Matchup" alongside Sal Paolantonio and Greg Cosell and appearances with Scott Van Pelt on the midnight "SportsCenter" on Sunday and Monday nights after NFL games. Riddick will "continue to be featured on 'NFL Live' and 'SportsCenter.'" Most notably, he "remains on the main set" on NFL Draft coverage. Riddick said, "I wanted the biggest, most important, most watched shows that we (ESPN) had to offer our viewers as it related to the NFL. I believed that I had earned the right, based on my performance, to ask for that, and that is what my team at WME/IMG (Jim Ornstein and Ira Stahlberger) did." Riddick's work has "continued to be excellent over the past two years." Deitsch: "Riddick is the best on-air NFL hire ESPN has made this decade" (SI.com, 8/27).

DOUBLE DUTY
: In Orlando, Matt Murschel notes ESPN's Chris Fowler will be part of the net's coverage of the U.S. Open starting today through Thursday before "flying to Atlanta" to call Saturday night's Alabama-Florida State game. Fowler said, "College football prep is so different and frankly more complicated than tennis, but at this point in the tennis season, I’ve covered a lot of matches and I’m very familiar with the storylines and the players." He added, "The minute I get out of the tennis booth, I’m looking at ‘Bama and Florida State and then the match approaches and I put all that stuff away and I go back to the booth. That’s kind of how it is every day. So you need to work ahead and you need to do your homework in advance" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 8/28).

DANGEROUS PRECEDENT?
 In N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote ESPN broadcaster Robert Lee and those at the net who "encouraged him" to move off the Sept. 2 William & Mary-Virginia football game "should have recognized this jive for what it is." Instead of "choosing the path of least resistance," ESPN has now "set a horrible precedent." It is "not a reach to suggest that ESPN, even with the whiff of pressure, will take a broadcaster off a game." Instead of "standing shoulder to shoulder, Lee and his bosses, ran." Raissman: "Over what? The threat of multiple morons tweaking them on Twitter? Shameful." The "thought of any of the greats" in sports broadcasting "opting out of their assignment over an imaginary threat of verbal abuse is comical." When outside forces can "dictate assignments, and interfere with a broadcaster’s right to work, that’s not only dangerous but shows a weakness at the executive level" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 8/27).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2017/08/28/Media/Bristol-News.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Daily/Issues/2017/08/28/Media/Bristol-News.aspx

CLOSE