Total Pro Sports
Rich Eisen is reportedly set to return to ESPN 22 years after leaving The Worldwide Leader in Sports.
The popular reporter left ESPN for NFL Network in 2003. He will remain as the host of ‘NFL GameDay’ and continue to provide draft coverage while calling certain games for the network.
That is according to The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand, who also reports that Eisen’s ‘The Rich Eisen Show’ will move from Roku to ESPN in the fall.
“The addition of Eisen is considered additive to ‘The Pat McAfee Show,’ which is also scheduled from noon to 3 p.m. ET daily, with placement on ESPN’s top channel for its first two hours,” Marchand notes.
He added:
“When ESPN licensed McAfee’s program on a five-year deal for more than $85 million, a big part of its thinking was its reimagined app and the direct-to-consumer product.”
ESPN and NFL Media are currently in talks over the former’s taking over, which suggests that Eisen is in the perfect spot to continue growing his brand.
Marchand adds that Eisen’s show will have “prominent placement on the app” and will feature on ESPN+ and Disney+, though it will not be on any linear networks such as ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPNews.
The 55-year-old has licensed his program to several networks. It used to air on NBC Sports before moving to Roku three years ago and is also on the radio via Westwood One and Sirius XM.
Eisen was with ESPN from 1996 to 2003 and, along with the late Stuart Scott, was one of the faces of SportsCenter.
It’s rumored that the Disney subsidiary has also approached Colin Cowherd about returning.
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