Francesa said he will be paid extremely well under his new contract that runs through '20GETTY IMAGES
Mike Francesa said that he is aware there will be "lingering 'hurt feelings' when he returns to WFAN" tomorrow, but his job is to "go there and be No. 1," according to Neil Best of NEWSDAY. Francesa added that he has been "asked by management 'to take a leadership role.'" Francesa: "I'll do what they ask me to do.” Francesa insisted that his return is "part of a larger project built around a new app he is developing in partnership with CAA Sports and Entercom" that is "set to launch in late summer." Francesa said of his return, "I wouldn’t have believed it maybe even three weeks ago." Francesa said that he had been speaking to Entercom Chair, President & CEO David Field since December about "trying to acquire the rights to the 'Mike and the Mad Dog' archives and name for use on his app." He added that he had been "prepared to make a deal with Entercom for those rights and then go elsewhere for a new daily platform," but in recent months, Field "pushed him to return to WFAN." Francesa: "I made it very clear to everyone on the Entercom side and on the FAN side that if anybody in management or any person had any issue with me going back, I would gladly go to another station in New York. ... There was going to be a third sports station in the afternoon. ... They didn’t want any part of that." Best noted the plan is to have a "video stream of the radio show on the app, which also will include archived material." His CAA-Entercom deal will also "include live events." Francesa, whose new contract runs through '20, said he will be paid "extremely well" and on the "same level I’ve been paid in the past" (NEWSDAY, 4/28).
TIME WILL TELL: Best wrote Francesa will attempt to show whether he can do what "countless entertainers, athletes and politicians have failed to do before him by mounting a successful and lasting comeback." The degree of difficulty is "high," as Francesa must "navigate a workplace where there are co-workers less than thrilled to have him back" (NEWSDAY, 4/29). In N.Y., Bob Raissman wrote, "There can be no No. 2 finishes for Francesa." He "can't spin the the numbers." Only a return to the top spot will "make Entercom's fiasco a success." If Francesa "can't return to the top, his dwindling number of lackeys, toadies and sychophants will still genuflect to him." The companies who sponsored Francesa's retirement tour "got burned." Once Entercom brought Francesa back, the "advertisers who invested in the tour had been officially screwed." WFAN should "offer refunds but it won't" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/29). WABC-AM's Sid Rosenberg tweeted, "The drama in & around the return of Mike Francesa is actually MUCH more compelling than his show" (TWITTER.com, 4/30).
EVERY KISS BEGINS WITH KAY: ESPN Radio N.Y.'s Michael Kay said of Francesa's return, "He wanted to come back. I guess there were fewer options than he thought there were going to be, so he went back to FAN. Obviously, he didn't have any regard to the collateral damage. I take real exception to the management of FAN and Entercom. For them to do that to those three people, to me, it's unconscionable. It really is. It's unconscionable." He added, "Again, I don't begrudge him coming back, but boy, to come back to the same place after you accepted all the accolades, it's very uncomfortable. It's kind of skeevy. ... It just doesn't seem right to me." Kay added, "We came very close to beating him in the fall book. It was during his goodbye tour. He had all the attention on him from all the world. ... He finished second -- and we finished tied for third. So we all always felt that if he'd stayed around, we would have beaten him" (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 4/28).
