ESPN today confirmed that the net will not re-sign Colin Cowherd when his contract expires. ESPN President John Skipper in a statement said, "We’ve enjoyed a mutually beneficial run with Colin for over a decade. He came to national prominence on ESPN with his unique perspective on sports and society" (ESPN). THE BIG LEAD's Ryan Glasspiegel, who broke the news this morning, reports while no destination is "finalized, talks are progressing towards a deal with Fox Sports." Cowherd's impending departure from ESPN "does not come as much of a surprise for anyone who follows these things closely, or has been listening to Cowherd’s show for the past few months." But the timing "will leave a gaping hole in ESPN Radio’s weekday lineup and has broader implications" for the net. ESPN made "an aggressive bid to keep Cowherd, but was upstaged by Fox, who are clearly looking to make a big splash." One reason Cowherd chose to leave ESPN could be a possible "reunion with Jamie Horowitz, the new President of Fox Sports, who produced SportsNation with Cowherd and Michelle Beadle, as well as Cowherd’s Sunday morning football show a couple years ago." It is "not currently known what Cowherd would do for FS1." One potential idea is to put him at 6:00pm ET and "attempt to better compete with SportsCenter with a talk-driven show" (THEBIGLEAD.com, 7/16). The HOLLYWOOD REPORTER's Marisa Guthrie notes Cowherd "follows Bill Simmons and Keith Olbermann out the door at ESPN." Cowherd "regularly spouts opinions that earn him the ire of the Twitter-verse including an assertion that African-Americans do not watch hockey and a running critique" of Wizards G John Wall for "what Cowherd views as showboating behavior" (HOLLYWOODREPORTER.com, 7/16).
