THE BIG LEAD's Jason McIntyre reported CBS Sports' Brett McMurphy "has accepted an offer from ESPN." McMurphy will "start in two weeks, and be a college football insider for the network in the same position as Joe Schad." ESPN viewers can "expect to see McMurphy on TV a lot." He is a "significant loss for CBS Sports, which in the last year has added a roster full of newsbreakers" such as college football writer Bruce Feldman, college basketball writer Jeff Goodman and baseball writer Jon Heyman. McIntyre: "It's about time ESPN got Joe Schad some help." After the departures of Feldman to CBS Sports and Pat Forde to Yahoo Sports, ESPN "was essentially running a distant third to CBS and Yahoo when it came to college sports news" (THEBIGLEAD.com, 7/23). Fox Sports' Erin Andrews tweeted, "Congrats to @McMurphyCBS on the move to ESPN. He's one of the best in the business and will be a huge addition."
NEW AND IMPROVED: In DC, Dick Heller writes MASN's F.P. Santangelo is the net's fourth analyst "to dissect the Nats' ups and downs" alongside play-by-play announcer Bob Carpenter, following former Nationals color analysts Tom Paciorek, Don Sutton and Rob Dibble. Many "former players-turned-analysts sit quietly and wait for the play-by-play man to cue them in," but Santangelo "shares the mike almost equally with Carpenter." Carpenter said, "F.P. brings a ton of energy to the broadcasts, and he has some of the keenest insights I've ever seen. ... My goal is to make the telecasts better, make my analyst better and make myself better. About 90 percent of the time, we just play off each other." Santangelo: "I do talk too much because I get so excited, but I'm trying to reel it in and learn when and how to make my points." Heller notes neither Carpenter nor Santangelo "has a contract for next year." The Nationals said that they "will not discuss extensions until after the season." But with MASN's ratings for Nationals games up 54%, "it seems proper and fitting that both should return" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 7/24).
LET'S KICK IT: ESPN and the German Bundesliga have agreed to a three year agreement through '15 for live coverage of the league's games to air in the U.K. and Ireland (ESPN)....Univision Deportes has reached an agreement to become the U.S. broadcast home of Liga MX club Chivas de Guadalajara. The multiyear deal is effective July '13 and includes all languages and platforms. The net will have the rights to all of Chivas' Liga MX, Copa Mexico and worldwide friendlies across all platforms (Univision).
