ESPN plans to bring back its Monday Night Football team for another season. Plus: ESPN will air a special commemorating the life of Kobe Bryant; and more.
NYP: ESPN plans to retain MNF team, will still interview Rivers
ESPN plans to bring back its Monday Night Football team of Steve Levy, Louis Riddick and Brian Griese for a second season, but will nonetheless engage in talks with the just-retired Philip Rivers and “keep the door open” for its white whale Peyton Manning, according to the New York Post. Per the report, ESPN could create a role for Rivers on a secondary package of NFL games should it acquire one in its coming media rights negotiations.
Front Office Sports previously reported that Fox Sports is interested in Rivers for a potential role on its #2 broadcast team. [NYP 1.22]
ESPN to air Kobe Bryant SportsCenter special
ESPN will air a one-hour SportsCenter special Sunday night commemorating the life of Kobe Bryant, who died a year ago Tuesday. Hosted by Jeremy Schaap and Lisa Salters from the site of the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass., the special will address several aspects of Bryant’s life and career and feature interviews with Pau Gasol, Sabrina Ionescu, Sue Bird and others.
Leading into the special, ESPN will air three episodes of “Detail” — the ESPN+ series Bryant created — breaking down some of his most memorable performances. That will be followed by a re-air of his final game in 2016, in which he scored 60 points.
On Tuesday — the anniversary of the helicopter crash that claimed his life and those of eight others, including his daughter Gigi — ESPN will air a two-hour episode of The Jump focused on Bryant. ESPN is also scheduled to air Wednesday’s Lakers-Sixers game from Philadelphia, Bryant’s home town and the city where — just hours before the crash — Lakers F LeBron James passed him on the all-time scoring list. [ESPN PR 1.22]
Plus: Aaron, Sutton, Olympics
Hank Aaron, Major League Baseball’s all-time home run leader from 1974-2007, died Friday at 86. Aaron broke Babe Ruth’s then-record of 714 home runs in 1974, doing so in the face of rampant threats to his life, and finished his career two years later with 755. SportsCenter devoted most of its morning edition to coverage of his death. … Former Atlanta Braves broadcaster Don Sutton, who followed a Hall of Fame playing career with a 30-year run broadcasting games on TBS and radio, died this week at age 75. Sutton most recently called Braves games on the radio in 2018 and had not called games since suffering a leg injury prior to the 2019 season. … A spokesman for the Japanese government has denied a report by the Times of London citing a “senior member of the ruling coalition” as saying that officials have agreed that the scheduled Summer Olympics will have to be canceled. [ESPN.com 1.22, CBS News 1.19, Reuters 1.21]
