ESPN and MMA reporter Ariel Helwani are parting ways. Plus: news on NBC’s planned Olympics schedule, and ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball team is reportedly heading back to game sites.
Helwani exiting ESPN; net reportedly offered paycut
ESPN mixed martial arts reporter Ariel Helwani said Sunday that he is leaving the company. Helwani, who joined ESPN in 2018, had drawn the ire of UFC CEO Dana White — a business partner of ESPN and parent company Disney. Per the New York Post, ESPN offered Helwani a 5-10 percent paycut in his $500,000/year salary.
Helwani said that he is leaving ESPN on good terms. Per the Post, he could end up at the gambling website Action Network and/or the Dan Le Batard-John Skipper vehicle Meadowlark. [NYP 6.6, 6.7]
NBC sets Olympic plans, including hoops finals in main primetime window
The NBC family of networks plan to carry 7,000 hours of coverage during next month’s scheduled Tokyo Summer Olympics, it was announced Monday. In addition to the NBC broadcast network, coverage is scheduled to air on NBCSN, USA, CNBC, Olympic Channel, Golf Channel, Telemundo Deportes and Universo. MSNBC, once a regular part of NBC’s Olympic rotation, will sit out a second-straight Games.
NBCSN, which will be shut down at the end of the year, is set to carry the most hours of any NBC network — 440. USA ranks second at 388.5 hours, followed by NBC itself at 250. Notably, the NBC flagship plans to carry both the men’s and women’s basketball finals live in its primary primetime window on August 6 and 7.
Olympic Channel is set for 242 hours of coverage, followed by CNBC (124.5) and Golf Channel (111). [NBC Sports PR]
ESPN Sunday Night Baseball team heading back out on road
The ESPN Sunday Night Baseball broadcast team of Matt Vasgersian and Alex Rodriguez is expected to resume traveling to the site of games starting with Yankees-Mets on July 4. The news was first reported by Newsday. ESPN has not sent any of its Major League Baseball broadcast teams on-site since the 2019 season. [Newsday 6.5]
