The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Benjamin Mullin noted the list of suitors for Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight has "narrowed," as the data site prepares to "move on from a nearly five-year tie-up" with ESPN. Sources said that the "final contenders" include ABC News, The Athletic and The Atlantic. A source said that Disney-owned ABC News is a "logical home," as Silver’s expertise in "polling and political analysis would be especially useful as midterm elections approach this fall" (WSJ.com, 3/1).
DIFFERENT TALE: In N.Y., Hannah Withiam notes former ESPN play-by-play announcer Mike Patrick on Thursday suggested that he "didn’t necessarily go of his own accord." Appearing on Glenn Clark Radio, Patrick, whose departure was formally announced last week, said, "It was a decision they made, that I agreed with." He added, "If someone makes me an offer of something I love ... if I could do ACC basketball again, which I think is impossible, I would jump at that." Withiam notes Patrick’s departure was "not framed as retirement" (N.Y. POST, 3/2).
WHY THE SECRECY? The WALL STREET JOURNAL's Jason Gay writes Sloan, MIT, ESPN, President Obama, his office and all involved with the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference in Boston "should be embarrassed" by the "off-the-record admonition" placed on Obama's Q&A. Though it is understood ESPN had "no hand in planning the Obama conversation," Sloan’s list of '18 attendees included "50 names alone from ESPN, and at least 20 more ESPN people were listed as moderators or panelists." ESPN's Bob Ley in a text message said, "This was a classic lose/lose/lose. Conference organizers come off looking like a brigade of self-important pocket-protector stat worshippers. Journalists who acquiesced should go back to the front desk for their cojones, where they checked them." He added, "The ultimate hilarious irony is that nothing Mr. Obama said was revelatory" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 3/2).
