Fox Sports has found its replacement for the fired Jamie Horowitz. In other news, NBC is not sending its entire NHL team to the Olympics, ESPN’s Jon Gruden has officially joined the Raiders, and ESPN has cut ties with a pair of football analysts.
Fox Sports Announces Horowitz Replacement
Fox Sports announced Wednesday that it has named Big Ten Network president
Mark Silverman the new president of its national networks, replacing
Jamie Horowitz, who was fired for sexual harassment last year. Silverman will oversee all programming, production, marketing and digital operations on FS1, FS2 and the FOX broadcast network. Horowitz was in charge only of FS1 and FS2.
Even with the new role, Silverman will continue in his current position at BTN, where has served as president since launch. [Fox Sports PR]
Emrick Not Working Olympics, McGuire Will Despite Cancer
NBC Sports announced Wednesday that NHL play-by-play voice
Mike Emrick will remain in North America to cover NHL games during the Winter Olympics.
Kenny Albert and
Gord Miller will handle Olympic hockey play-by-play. Emrick will work all three NBC NHL telecasts during the Olympics, working alongside
Eddie Olczyk on two of them. Olczyk has missed much of the season battling cancer.
Meanwhile, NBC will send NHL analysts Mike Milbury, Pierre McGuire, and Brian Boucher to the Olympics. McGuire announced Wednesday that he has been diagnosed with stage 1 prostate cancer and is less than a week removed from surgery, but he does not expect that to affect his duties in Pyeongchang. [NBC Sports PR 1.10, USA Today 1.10]
Gruden Officially Joins Raiders
ESPN NFL analyst
Jon Gruden was announced as the new coach of the Oakland Raiders Tuesday, officially ending his nine-year tenure on the network’s
Monday Night Football broadcast. Gruden had been with ESPN since leaving the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2009. [ESPN.com
1.10]
ESPN Cuts Ties With McNabb, Davis
ESPN last week fired ESPN Radio hosts
Donovan McNabb and
Eric Davis after an investigation into alleged misconduct while the two worked for NFL Network. McNabb and Davis were two of six current and former NFL Network employees accused of sexual harassment in a lawsuit filed last year. The remaining four —
Marshall Faulk,
Heath Evans and
Ike Taylor of NFL Network and
Eric Weinberger of
The Ringer — have been suspended by their employers.
McNabb had been an occasional presence on ESPN TV, primarily appearing on First Take. ESPN was in some ways a second chance for the former Eagles QB, who resigned from a prominent position at Fox Sports three years ago after being suspended for multiple DUI arrests. [Sports Business Daily 1.5]
