PRO FOOTBALL WEEKLY's Hub Arkush on Friday announced the publication will be closing, writing, "In my final act as the voice of Pro Football Weekly, it is time to say goodbye. Pro Football Weekly, as we’ve all known it since the first issue rolled off the press in late August of 1967, is no more." He continued, "Over the last five years our majority owner and each of the minority partners invested a tremendous amount of money, time and effort to try to build a bridge for PFW from the rapidly deteriorating world of old media to the new, exploding market of digital media and glitzy, new products. ... There comes a time when there is just no more money to lose, and now we are forced to close the doors" (PROFOOTBALLWEEKLY.com, 5/31). SI.com's Peter King writes, "Everyone in our business owes a debt of gratitude to Pro Football Weekly." King: "The mass of information, never-ending and free, killed PFW. Sad but true" (SI.com, 6/3).
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| Burkhardt worked as the Cowboys' radio voice on Compass Media Network |
FOX HUNTING: SI.com's Richard Deitsch reports Fox Sports has "constructed a new NFL announcing team" for the '13 season. SportsNet N.Y. broadcaster Kevin Burkhardt will "call play by play with current Fox Sports staffer John Lynch serving as his analyst." Erin Andrews also is "likely to serve as a sideline reporter on a handful of NFL games this fall and very likely with this group, though her first priority is hosting Fox's college football studio show." The broadcasting depth for the net's NFL coverage "needed upgrading, so the hiring of Burkhardt -- who currently serves as the radio play-by-play voice for the Cowboys' national broadcast on Compass Media Network -- is a smart move" (
SI.com, 6/3). Meanwhile, former NFLer Ronde Barber said that the specifics of his new role with Fox Sports "will be known shortly." In Tampa, Rick Stroud wrote it is a "given he will be involved in the network's NFL coverage and he likely will have duties on the new Fox Sports 1" (
TAMPA BAY TIMES, 5/31).
OFF THE SET, ONTO THE FIELD: In S.F., Eric Branch cited sources as saying that the 49ers will hire former Jets and Browns coach Eric Mangini "as a senior offensive consultant." Mangini, who has "spent the past two years as an ESPN analyst, has not signed a contract, but his hiring is imminent" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 6/2).
