ESPN has hired Pat McAfee; Tony Gonzalez is joining the FOX Thursday Night Football studio; the PGA Tour plans to reach new media rights deals this year; NBC is undecided on streaming the Olympic Opening Ceremony.
ESPN hires McAfee
ESPN announced Monday that it has reached a multi-year deal with former NFL P Pat McAfee, who will serve primarily as a college football analyst. McAfee will be part of the broadcast booth for ESPN’s Thursday night college games, working alongside Matt Hasselbeck and play-by-play voice Adam Amin. He will also appear on ESPN’s “Get Up!” morning show.
McAfee has worked for a variety of outlets since his retirement, most recently serving as a guest analyst for the NFL on FOX last season. [ESPN PR 7.29]
Gonzalez joining FOX Thursday Night Football studio
Fox Sports NFL analyst Tony Gonzalez will join the Thursday Night Football pregame show this season, the New York Post reported Monday. Gonzalez, who joined Fox from CBS in 2017, will join the returning Michael Strahan and either Terry Bradshaw or Howie Long, who will alternate appearances on the Thursday night show.
Gonzalez will continue in his Sunday roles on FOX NFL Kickoff and the FOX halftime and postgame shows. [NYP 7.29]
PGA Tour expects new deals this year
The PGA Tour expects to reach new media rights deals by the end of this year, two years before its current deals with CBS, NBC and Golf Channel expire, Sports Business Journal reported Monday. Because its existing deals do not include exclusive negotiating windows, the Tour can negotiate with any interested media outlet.
According to the Journal, CBS and NBC are interested in renewing their deals, with the latter open to giving the Tour an ownership stake in Golf Channel. Among the challengers are Fox Sports, which reportedly wants a limited package surrounding its US Open coverage; Turner Sports parent company WarnerMedia, which has shown “a lot of interest”; ESPN, which is primarily seeking content for ESPN Plus, and just last year inked a deal for PGA Championship rights; and Amazon, which is “expected to make a significant bid.” [Sports Business Journal 7.29]
NBC: no decision on streaming Olympic Opening Ceremony live
NBC Sports has not decided yet whether to stream next year’s Olympic Opening Ceremony live, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday. Next year’s Olympics is taking place in Tokyo, 13 hours ahead of Eastern time. NBC did stream last year’s Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony, which also took place many hours ahead of Eastern time. It did not stream the Opening Ceremony in 2016, despite Rio being an hour ahead of Eastern time. [Philadelphia Inquirer 7.29 via Sports Business Daily 7.29]
