After cutting Dan Le Batard’s radio show by an hour, ESPN is bumping his TV show Highly Questionable to an earlier timeslot. Also: the NFL has reportedly agreed to cancel its preseason, Joe Buck and John Smoltz will be in separate studios Saturday, and Sage Steele says she was snubbed.
NFL Live moving to 4 PM ET, bumping Jalen, Jacoby and Le Batard
ESPN announced Wednesday that it is moving NFL Live to 4 PM ET starting August 17. As a result, Jalen & Jacoby and Highly Questionable will move up by two hours to 2:00 and 2:30 PM, respectively.
Highly Questionable had aired in the 4:00 PM hour since its 2011 debut and served as the lead-in for Around the Horn since 2015. The earlier timeslot follows ESPN’s decision to cut host Dan Le Batard’s radio show from three to two hours.
The later timeslot for NFL Live comes amidst a retool of the show that includes a new cast led by Laura Rutledge. [ESPN PR 7.22]
NFL to cancel preseason
The NFL has agreed to cancel this year’s preseason, according to multiple reports Tuesday. Preseason games had been a point of contention in negotiations between the league and NFL Players Association on pandemic-related adjustments to league operations. The NFL originally planned to cut the preseason schedule from four games per team to two, but the players insisted on none at all.
Under the collective bargaining agreement reached between the sides earlier this year, the preseason will be reduced to two games for good starting next year. [ESPN.com 7.21]
Buck, Smoltz, to work from separate studios Saturday
Lead MLB on FOX broadcasters Joe Buck and John Smoltz are scheduled to call Saturday’s Yankees-Nationals Major League Baseball game from separate studios, Buck told the SB Nation blog Over the Monster. Buck would be in Denver and Smoltz in New Jersey, with producer Pete Macheska in Los Angeles. Fox plans to have its MLB announcers call games from separate studio locations all season, Sports Media Watch has learned, with Ken Rosenthal occasionally appearing on-site. [SB Nation 7.21]
ESPN’s Steele alleges snub
ESPN SportsCenter anchor Sage Steele says she was excluded from a June ESPN special about racial issues after colleagues Elle Duncan and Michael Eaves intervened, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Steele reportedly took her concerns about the perceived snub to ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro. In a statement to WSJ, she suggested that her absence from the show was because she is viewed as not being “Black enough.” In their own statement to WSJ, Duncan and Eaves said Steele’s absence was due to time constraints. [WSJ 7.22]
