Dan Patrick has just announced that he will leave ESPN on August 17.
Patrick says he was starting to “take the job for granted”, and also states that there is “no bad blood”. He will continue hosting The Dan Patrick Show through August 17.
Patrick’s departure will mainly be felt on ESPN Radio, as opposed to ESPN TV; Patrick has rarely been on ESPN TV in recent years, appearing only on NBA Conference Final coverage — and strangely absent during ESPN coverage of the NBA Draft. Rumors are flying that Patrick may take over the morning slot on WFAN. Neil Best of Newsday says that “a usually reliable grapevine hearer” told him that “Patrick could be in the mix.”
While ESPN TV should be relatively unaffected, ESPN Radio is left with a gaping hole in its schedule. ESPN Radio could consider moving Colin Cowherd‘s program to the empty timeslot, or maybe give radio hosts John Siebel or Erik Kuselias full time positions. In addition to ESPN Radio, the NBA on ABC now finds itself with an empty position. While this is speculative at best, Mike Tirico would seem to be a strong candidate to return to the studio, especially judging from the fact that ESPN used him to host NBA Draft coverage last month.
As for where Dan Patrick will take his television career, there are many possibilities but very few rumors. Patrick could join Keith Olbermann on Football Night in America on NBC, though that is unlikely as such a move would likely require Bob Costas being demoted. Commenter Brett suggests that Patrick move to FOX and become the new host of FOX NFL Sunday, but FOX has already announced that Curt Menefee will host that pregame show next season — and it would be unusually bad form to dump someone who has already been given a job. CBS and Turner have very few prominent roles available. Patrick may stray from sports, like Olbermann, and host a show more focused on pop culture or politics. There is every possibility that Patrick may leave television altogether, and focus entirely on his radio career.
UPDATE: Thanks to Kzfone of Fang’s Bites for this news: Dan Patrick will not be going to WFAN. From Neil Best‘s Newsday blog:
Patrick put out feelers to WFAN a while back, but there never was serious discussion from either side about morning drive time – or afternoon drive, for that matter, in the increasingly unlikely event WFAN is thinking about moving Mike Francesa and Chris Russo to mornings.”
See also: “What’s next for Dan Patrick?” and “Move over Costas: Dan Patrick should join Olbermann on Football Night.“
