Today was Dan Le Batard's final show for ESPN Radio, and he previewed a quick pivot for him and his on-air team: “Wait until the audience gets a load of the website we’re going to unleash in a day or two. ... We’re staring at the end of a cliff and I’ve got to make sure that people on this platform know that we’re headed toward another platform.” Le Batard: “This whole thing feels a little bit like listening to your own eulogy.” He added his show was “never intended to be anything other than a fun, goofy Miami show, and when ESPN gave us the platforms and put these guys on television, they elevated us to a place where now we feel like we can go” (“The Dan Le Batard Show,” ESPN Radio, 1/4).
Le Batard later addressed fans about leaving “Highly Questionable” and ESPN, saying his father “confided to me recently that he thought the show was too strange and would be canceled within its first six weeks,” but instead, it aired for a “damn decade.” Le Batard: “This isn't quite the glamorous, crisscrossing spotlight show business ending I imagined on a bad lighting Zoom call during a pandemic at 2:30 in the afternoon on ESPN2, but it's finally time for me to go.” He noted "Highly Questionable" will continue with various hosts on ESPN, and "if that’s part of my legacy here, I’ll always be proud of that” (“Highly Questionable,” ESPN, 1/4).
Twitter tributes and well-wishes to Le Batard poured in from ESPN colleagues including Marty Smith: "They welcomed a country boy from Appalachia into their wacko world of brilliance like I was family. And then we became family. Love y'all." Brooke Pryor: "The week in television starts with Dan LeBatard signing off HQ and ends with Alex Trebek's last Jeopardy show. I'M TOO FRAGILE FOR THIS." Randy Scott: "Whatever’s next I’ll always be a fan of the Dan franchise." From beyond Bristol, CBS Sports' David P. Samson: "Plenty of people and platforms get the show. #waittosee." LAFC broadcaster Max Bretos: "Being from Miami & being [Cuban], it gives me a lot of pride to see where Dan/Stu/Mike and the team have taken that show. Future is bright." Journalist Jane McManus: "LeBatard really was able to utilize the excellent women at ESPN in an inclusive way the rest of the network hasn't always been able to. They weren't outsiders on the set, they were part of the crew."
