FOX News correspondent Tiki Barber has signed a 10 million dollar deal to work for ABC News, according to the New York Post. The pundit and part-time football player will also contribute to ESPN.
Barber, best known for his role on FOX and Friends, will contribute to ABC’s Good Morning America and 20/20, while his role at ESPN has not been specified.
Rarely have athletes tried to crossover into news. In fact, it’s rare for anyone associated with sports to make the transition in to news. The best example is Keith Olbermann, who as recently as three years ago was best known as an anchor for SportsCenter — although it would be surprising if anyone even remembered his ESPN career at this point, considering his lightning rod role in the current culture wars.
Barber is no lightning rod. The biggest reason why he was so sought after is the fact that he seems to be a generally likable, corporate, clean, buttoned-down person who won’t make any waves. Barber isn’t Charles Barkley — who CNN once had co-host the late Talkback Live with Arthel Neville — and will appeal to the demographics of brain dead shows like GMA and 20/20. He won’t be talking about the War in Iraq or the Bush administration, and he probably won’t let his political leanings slip (like Curt Schilling or the aforementioned Charles Barkley), so he is a perfect fit for the morning show/newsmagazine set.
In other words, Barber isn’t necessarily pulling a Katie Couric. After all, he’s not actually going to be working on news shows, he’s going to be working on fluff-mongering filler shows that only serve to dumb down the public while they get ready to leave for work. That being said, its still a far cry from SportsCenter or Cold Pizza. After all, this is a world where athletes rarely even do play-by-play (and when they do, it can be disastrous — see Dan Fouts).
