Netflix reportedly “would love to find a way to” acquire the NFL season opener; Doc Rivers is reportedly not expected to make an ESPN return; and Dianna Russini is said to be under investigation by The Athletic. Plus news on John Buccigross, Joe Castiglione, Keith Hernandez and Josh Oshinsky.
Netflix reportedly “would love to find a way to” obtain NFL season opener
Hannah Miller and Lucas Shaw of Bloomberg reported Sunday that Netflix “would love to find a way to” acquire the NFL Kickoff Game that is currently part of NBCUniversal’s contract with the league, though it was not clear from the report whether that interest is concrete or an aspiration. The streamer’s apparent interest in the Kickoff Game does not appear to have been previously reported. The Kickoff Game has been part of every NBCUniversal contract with the NFL dating back to its acquisition of “Sunday Night Football” rights in the 2005 negotiations.
NBC Sports has given no indication that it would consider giving up the Kickoff Game, and there is no reason to believe that the company would give up any portion of its NFL inventory in order to reduce the cost of a renewal or recoup some of the rights fees it is paying to other leagues like the NBA. Parent company Comcast registered a $122 million loss in its media segment (-140.9% YoY), partially attributing the higher costs to its NBA rights. The company has reportedly sold rights to next season’s Big Ten Championship game, the only title game in its Big Ten contract, to Fox Sports for $45 million to $55 million. In the event that NBCU was willing to sell rights to the game, Netflix received a $2.8 billion payment funded by Paramount after Warner Bros. Discovery bowed out of its merger agreement with the company.
Comcast is in the midst of a 10-year deal with the NFL reportedly worth $2 billion annually that grants it rights to “Sunday Night Football,” several postseason games and two Super Bowl championships. The NFL is expected to seek a mid-cycle rights fee hike from its partners in exchange for removing the opt-out clauses from its various deals, per a report by John Ourand of Puck.
Netflix is reportedly pursuing additional NFL inventory on top of its annual Christmas Day games, which could include the league’s Week 1 International Series game from Melbourne, Australia and a new Thanksgiving Eve contest. The streamer televised MLB’s Opening Night game last month, marking the first time it opened the regular season for a professional sports league in the United States.
Rivers reportedly not expected to join ESPN
Doc Rivers is not expected to return to ESPN after stepping down as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, according to a report by Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports. Rivers, who recently worked for the network for the first few months of the 2023-24 campaign, had been coaching the Bucks for parts of the last three seasons. With the new NBA media rights deals in place, ESPN has fewer games in the first two rounds of the playoffs, something that can feasibly result in fewer broadcast assignments.
Rivers previously called the NBA Finals for ABC in 2004 alongside Al Michaels, and he was slated to return to that broadcast in 2024 with Mike Breen and Doris Burke. Yet his midseason departure from ESPN forced the network to make a change, and it ended up appointing JJ Redick to take on the role. Redick ended up leaving that summer to coach the Los Angeles Lakers, and ESPN subsequently named Richard Jefferson to its lead broadcast team.
ESPN had an opening on its analyst roster after Michael Malone left to coach North Carolina, but has elected to fill that vacancy with Jay Bilas, McCarthy reported and Sports Media Watch can confirm. Bilas will work with Ryan Ruocco, per McCarthy. As previously announced before the start of the season, ESPN will use Mike Breen, Richard Jefferson, Tim Legler and Lisa Salters as its lead team and pair Dave Pasch and Doris Burke on its secondary team.
Although Bilas has primarily worked on college basketball coverage since joining ESPN in 1995, he has added more NBA work of late and was reportedly a candidate to join the lead team after Rivers left to coach the Bucks.
Russini reportedly under investigation by The Athletic
The Athletic has begun an investigation into the conduct of senior NFL insider Dianna Russini after the New York Post published photos of her at an Arizona resort with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, per numerous reports. Katie Robertson of The New York Times reported that Russini will not be reporting during the investigation, the length of which is unknown. Editorial guidelines for The Athletic read that employees “should avoid even the appearance of a conflict of interest.”
Both Russini and Vrabel have said that the photos were taken out of context. Steven Ginsberg, who is the executive editor of The Athletic, also put out a statement classifying the photos as “misleading” and described the interactions as having occurred “in front of many people.” Russini and Vrabel were pictured alone in photos on top of a bungalow and in a hot tub just before league meetings in late March.
Natalie Korach of Status reported Sunday that staffers at the publication are worried that “subsequent backtracking from leadership has only exacerbated a potentially embarrassing situation” and result in more questions around “standards and judgment in a crisis.” Korach said that The Athletic started its investigation once learning of the photos. The Patriots organization has not commented on the situation, nor has The Athletic or The New York Times Company amended its commentary.
Russini joined The Athletic in 2023 after working at ESPN for the previous eight years as a reporter on programs such as “Sunday NFL Countdown,” “SportsCenter” and “NFL Live.” In her statement to the New York Post about the meeting with Vrabel, Russini said that “reporters interact with sources away from stadiums and other venues.” Vrabel, who won the AP Coach of the Year award, led the Patriots to a Super Bowl appearance with a 14-3 regular-season record in his rookie campaign in the head coach role.
Plus: John Buccigross, Joe Castiglione, Keith Hernandez, Josh Oshinsky
- John Buccigross has signed a multiyear contract extension with ESPN, officially extending his tenure with the network to more than three decades. Buccigross, who serves as a studio host and play-by-play announcer, recently called the Frozen Four championship and will continue being part of the network’s coverage of the NHL and college hockey.
- Boston Red Sox radio play-by-play announcer Joe Castiglione will make his return to the broadcast booth this summer after he was treated for cancer, according to a report by Chad Finn of The Boston Globe. Castiglione told Finn that his scans came back clean and that he is cancer free. The longtime Red Sox broadcaster retired from his full-time role in 2024 and is expected “to call a handful of games this season,” likely a 10-game schedule mostly containing Sunday afternoon home contests, per Finn.
- SNY New York Mets television analyst Keith Hernandez recently said that he will be undergoing back surgery this Tuesday and is aiming to return to the broadcast booth next Friday, April 24 when the team faces the Colorado Rockies. Hernandez, who previously said he was suffering from “excruciating pain,” ended up missing the final five games of the team’s recent road trip. Todd Zeile occupied the analyst role and worked alongside play-by-play voice Gary Cohen.
- Josh Oshinsky has joined ESPN as senior director of ESPN Original content development, it was announced Monday, a role that will see him lead “multiplatform storytelling development” for the “30 for 30” series, along with ESPN Films, scripted projects and other areas. Oshinsky formerly produced and edited the “Four Days in October” episode of “30 for 30” and has also held VP roles at Sports Illustrated and Business Insider. He arrives at ESPN after working as head of global content for PepsiCo.
