Days after bringing back Keith Olbermann, ESPN has apparently picked up another high-profile media figure.
New York Times writer Nate Silver is leaving to join ESPN, the paper reported late Friday. Silver will take his Five Thirty Eight blog with him to ESPN, where he is expected to contribute to the new “Olbermann” talk show set to debut next month.
In recent years, Silver became one of the biggest names in the political media for his accurate election forecasts. Not surprisingly, he will contribute to ABC News during election years.
Beyond politics, Silver first came to relative prominence writing for the website Baseball Prospectus. According to Friday’s New York Times report, Silver has recently “expressed interest in covering sports more frequently” (NYT, 7/19).
Olbermann and Silver are unusually high-profile additions for ESPN. Excluding former athletes, the last time ESPN picked up a name as big was arguably 2008, when Hannah Storm joined as a “SportsCenter” anchor.
(Fri. news from The New York Times)
