News: Maria Taylor, Sanchez, Pierre, Dakich

The latest drama from ESPN’s NBA studio team. Plus: another ESPN college football analyst is headed to Fox, Pierre McGuire will not be on NHL TV broadcasts next season, and Dan Dakich will soon be back on ESPN.

Taylor to work NBA Finals to conclusion, Williams will not

The New York Post and The Athletic reported Friday that ESPN NBA studio host Maria Taylor has reached an agreement to remain with the network through the end of the current NBA Finals, which will conclude Tuesday at the earliest — the day her ESPN contract expires. Per the Post and Front Office Sports, Taylor is close to a deal to join NBC Sports.

While Taylor plans to finish the NBA Finals, the same cannot be said of her NBA studio colleague Jay Williams. He said Friday that he has tested positive for COVID-19 and will miss the remaining games of the series. [NYP 7.16, The Athletic 7.16]

Fox adds ESPN’s Sanchez, loses Gonzalez

Fox Sports announced this week that it has hired ESPN college football studio analyst Mark Sanchez to serve as an NFL game analyst. Sanchez, who had been with ESPN since 2019, will also contribute to the suite of FS1 daily talk shows. The New York Post first reported the move.

Sanchez is just the latest member of the ESPN college football team to join Fox Sports. His former ABC studio colleague Jonathan Vilma joined Fox last year, and Brock Huard and Chris Spielman made the move in prior years.

In other Fox NFL news, studio analyst Tony Gonzalez is leaving to focus on his acting career, per Front Office Sports. [Fox Sports PR, Front Office Sports 7.15]

No more Pierre on NHL TV

Pierre McGuire, a prominent NBC NHL analyst during the network’s full sixteen-year tenure carrying the league, has returned to the league as senior vice president of player development for the Ottawa Senators. Reporting in The Athletic indicated that the NHL’s two new rights partners — ESPN and Turner — were not interested in McGuire’s services. In addition to NBC, McGuire worked for Canada’s TSN from 1999-11. [NHL.com 7.12]

Dakich back on ESPN next week

ESPN college basketball analyst Dan Dakich, who earlier this year expressed doubt that the company will retain him for next season, is slated to work ESPN’s coverage of The Basketball Tournament next week. The role does not necessarily indicate anything about his status going forward, as non-ESPN personnel like Hawks voice Bob Rathbun and Fox Sports reporter Jen Hale regularly work the event. [ESPN PR 7.14]

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Jon Lewis

Jon Lewis has been covering the sports media industry on a daily basis since 2006 as the founder and main writer of Sports Media Watch. You can contact him here or on the social media websites X (Twitter) or Bluesky.

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Comments 1

Nate Johnson says:

5 years ago

I must say that I am happy that there won’t be an awkward ending being Taylor and NBA Countdown. I honestly have to applaud ESPN on they handled the audio leak days and now weeks after. It definitely made the NBA Finals have full attention and nothing to be shared with from its TV partner drama.

As far as the halftime show goes they won’t miss Williams (in the words of Mark Jackson “With all due to respect”). To be honest, they could simply leave it with Taylor and Rose. Pre-Game is different. Also post game coverage having another analyst helps as well. But in regards to the halftime show they release so much of their ads because ESPN/ABC has to receive their funding (noticed that for the last 2 maybe more years, but didn’t really hit me until I saw that happened during RS telecast). Years ago the NBA reduced each team’s Timeouts, took away 1 media (or TV) timeout from each half, and also reduced ad times during the timeouts in order to increase pace of play which was complained a lot before (and arguably could still be complained about because of the refs going to the monitor for replay review so many times). Overall, data showed from tip to the final buzzer games time was quicker when they made those adjustments. So in return, for ESPN to make revenue, they dominate the half with advertisements. I get it, I’m a basketball fan/junkie so I could careless on hearing analysis from Rose and Williams. However, casual viewers (let’s remember during a major sporting event and the NBA’s biggest stage) could receive some substance from that, but yet is left with nothing and could those viewers plan something different with their halftime break. Halftime also has more viewers than pre game and post game which is where advertisers would want to have their brand advertised in those slots (or during the game). So I get it and won’t critique ESPN for that. However, Awful Announcing had an article where they criticized ESPN for that.* I have to say it is fair for them to do that, but at the same time it’s important to note that everyone won’t be pleased and then it becomes a number game on how to adjust differently and go from there. It also doesn’t help that the NBA on TNT does an excellent job with their halftime show and show less ads, but yet the way they produce the game is different than ESPN/ABC and I believe there has to be an understanding of that.

*That article is why I wrote the long block. I was going to save my thoughts on the halftime programming after the Finals concluded, but decided to post this while it’s fresh from an article that focuses on sports media.