ESPN is pulling the last exclusive NFL game from its ESPN+ service; YouTube has tapped “Deestroying” for its Week 1 NFL game; Phil Simms is making a return to NBC Sports; and more.
ESPN moves exclusive game from ESPN+, sets preseason games for new app
ESPN announced Tuesday that it is moving the Week 7 Texans-Seahawks “Monday Night Football” game from ESPN+ to its flagship ESPN network. The game will remain scheduled for a 10 PM ET start, leading directly out of a Buccaneers-Lions game on ESPN earlier in the night.
Texans-Seahawks in all likelihood would have been the final NFL game to air exclusively on ESPN+, as the direct-to-subscriber service is set to lose its annual exclusive game under ESPN’s deal to acquire NFL Network. Last year’s ESPN+ exclusive, which overlapped with a competing “MNF” contest on ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, averaged fewer than two million viewers. (It is unclear whether ESPN+ would retain its annual exclusive game in the event that the NFL Media deal falls through or is delayed.)
ESPN+ would seem to clearly be on the back burner as ESPN shifts attention to its new direct-to-subscriber app, which launches Thursday. On that front, ESPN also announced Tuesday that the new app will carry out-of-market coverage of five NFL preseason games on Saturday — Ravens-Commanders at Noon ET, Colts-Bengals and Texans-Lions at 1 PM, Bills-Buccaneers at 7:30 and Chargers-49ers at 8 PM. The streams, which will be subject to local blackout in participating markets, will be simulcasts of local over-the-air coverage.
The games, which are part of one of several recent agreements between ESPN and the NFL, will be available to all subscribers of the “ESPN Unlimited” tier (as opposed to ESPN+, which is being renamed “ESPN Select”), whether they subscribe directly or receive the app through their existing cable provider.
YouTube adds “Deestroying” to broadcast of NFL Brazil game
Google-owned YouTube said Tuesday that the announce team for its exclusive Week 1 NFL game from Brazil will include the content creator “Deestroying” (Donald De La Haye), a former UCF and UFL kicker who has amassed over six million subscribers on YouTube. De La Haye will work in a sideline role alongside Stacey Dales. He will be one of two content creators who are part of the broadcast, with fantasy football streamer Peter Overzet contributing to a “podcast-style” studio show from NFL Network’s Los Angeles studios.
The rest of the broadcast team largely consists of familiar NFL TV voices and a handful of recent stars. Rich Eisen and Kurt Warner will be in the booth, Kay Adams will host on-site studio coverage, and Brandon Marshall will moderate the studio podcast segments. Cam Newton, Tyrann Mathieu and Derek Carr will each make their NFL broadcasting debuts, with Newton on-site alongside Adams and Mathieu and Carr in the Los Angeles studio.
YouTube will have the exclusive national broadcast of the Chiefs-Chargers game from Brazil on Friday, September 5. While Google-owned YouTube TV owns rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, the platform has never produced an NFL broadcast of its own. Last year, the Brazil game aired exclusively on Peacock, with NBC producing the game and using its own talent.
Phil Simms rejoins NBC for trio of college football games
Former NBC NFL analyst Phil Simms is returning to the company as an analyst for three college football games this season, it was announced Tuesday. The three games in question will all be Big Ten matchups on Peacock, with Simms working alongside Paul Burmeister on Western Illinois-Illinois on August 29, Miami (Ohio)-Rutgers the following weekend, and a third game to be announced later.
Best known for his nearly 20-year run as the lead NFL analyst for CBS from 1998-2016, Simms had a comparably brief stint with NBC from 1995-98 — but that still included two Super Bowl broadcasts and contributions to NBC properties like the Olympics and NBA.
Simms lost his CBS analyst role after the 2016 season and was replaced by Tony Romo. He spent six more years with CBS as part of “The NFL Today” before departing the show after the 2023 season.
In returning to NBC, Simms joins a network that already employs his son Chris Simms in a prominent role.
Plus: Chase Daniel, Nick Friedell, ESPN extensions, Nexstar-Tegna
- ESPN has hired former college quarterback and FS1 “The Facility” co-host Chase Daniel as a college football analyst, according to Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports. Daniel, who has also worked as an analyst for NFL Network, will work alongside Clay Matvick beginning with Duquesne-Pittsburgh on August 30.
- Former ESPN NBA reporter Nick Friedell will join The Athletic as the company’s Golden State Warriors beat writer, per Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports. Friedell has remained under contract with ESPN since being laid off two years ago.
- ESPN on Tuesday announced multi-year contract extensions with NFL analysts Field Yates and Alex Smith. Yates, who joined ESPN in 2012, will continue in his current roles making regular appearances on “NFL Live” and “SportsCenter” as well as the network’s fantasy football and NFL Draft coverage. Smith, who is entering his fifth season with ESPN, will continue to appear on Sunday NFL Countdown and add appearances on the network’s daily morning shows Get Up and First Take.
- Nexstar, the nation’s largest station owner, has reached an agreement to acquire rival Tegna in a $6.2 billion deal, it was announced Tuesday. The deal would increase the number of Nexstar-owned stations from 201 to 265.
