Brent Musburger will be back in the broadcast booth in the second half of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game; Sally Jenkins is joining The Atlantic in September; and NASCAR is reportedly not returning to Mexico City. Plus additional news about Gilbert Arenas, Amazon, ESPN and Altitude Sports Radio.
Musburger to join second half of NBC’s HOF Game broadcast
Famed play-by-play announcer and studio host Brent Musburger will join the NBC broadcast booth in the second half of Thursday’s Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, it was announced Wednesday. Musburger, who was named the winner of the 2025 Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award, will join his former ESPN/ABC colleagues Mike Tirico and Melissa Stark and analyst Cris Collinsworth for the Chargers-Lions contest.
Musburger, who hosted The NFL Today on CBS for 15 years before his shock 1990 firing and spent the final three seasons of his career broadcasting Raiders football on the radio, will also be interviewed by host Maria Taylor during “Football Night in America.”
The Pro Football Hall of Fame will honor Musburger over the weekend at the Gold Jacket Dinner and subsequent Class of 2025 Enshrinement from Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium.
Jenkins leaving Washington Post for The Atlantic
Longtime sports columnist Sally Jenkins announced Wednesday that she is leaving The Washington Post after 25 years. Jenkins will join The Atlantic as a staff writer starting in September where she will continue reporting and frequent the New York office, editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg said in a staff announcement.
Earlier in the month, Washington Post CEO Will Lewis informed staff they should consider a buyout if they do “not feel aligned” with the paper’s new editorial direction. Jenkins is just the latest notable sports media figure to leave the Post in recent weeks; D.C. Sports Bog founder Dan Steinberg departed to join The Athletic as its NFL managing editor.
There have been additional departures at the paper across other departments, including columnist and media critic Erik Wemple leaving for The New York Times, according to Max Tani of Semafor.
Prior to her second stint with The Washington Post in 2000, Jenkins was a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, the same publication that employed her father, Dan, for nearly 25 years. Jenkins also helped launch the Women’s Sports and Fitness magazine before returning to the newspaper to work as a columnist, a tenure during which she has garnered numerous accolades.
NASCAR reportedly not returning to Mexico City
The NASCAR Mexico City race that debuted this year is not expected to return, according to Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic, owing to logistical difficulties and finding a date that works for all entities.
NASCAR is said to be “solidifying plans to return to Chicagoland” as a potential replacement. The race would take place in nearby Joliet, Ill. at Chicagoland Speedway, which is owned by NASCAR. The track has not held a NASCAR Cup Series race since 2019 when Alex Bowman of Hendrick Motorsports finished in first place. The company had previously announced that it would not be returning to the Chicago Street Course next season.
Plus: Gilbert Arenas, Amazon, ESPN, Altitude Sports Radio
- Former NBA point guard and podcast host Gilbert Arenas is facing federal charges for hosting “illegal high-stakes poker games” at his mansion, according to the United States Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California.
- Amazon is licensing select New York Times content — including from The Athletic — in an agreement worth between $20 million and $25 million per year, according to a report from Alexandra Bruell of The Wall Street Journal. The deal permits Amazon to utilize content from the sports publication, along with the Times’ news and cooking products, to train AI models and provide summaries and excerpts within products and services.
- ESPN reached 193.6 million unique fans in the month of June, according to data from Comscore, which equates to 69.1% of U.S. adults. In addition, ESPN Social earned 555 million engagements, finishing as No. 1 for the 48th consecutive month in the “Sports Media and Leagues” category.
- Kroenke Sports and Entertainment has signed a new partnership of Westwood One that will bring prime time NFL games to Altitude Sports Radio 92.5 FM and 950 AM in Denver, Colo. The station will also be airing the NFL playoffs, Super Bowl LX and other sporting events in addition to The Jim Rome Show in afternoon drive while remaining the flagship for the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets.
