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).