Big names: Ochocinco, Fitzgerald, McAfee and more

Fox makes a surprising pick for its World Cup studio team. Plus: ESPN has hired Larry Fitzgerald, Pat McAfee is returning to College Gameday, and more — including the resolution of the lawsuit against Doug Gottlieb.

Chad Johnson to be part of Fox World Cup studio

Former NFL WR Chad Johnson (née Ochocinco) will be part of the studio team for Fox Sports’ FIFA World Cup coverage, it was announced Wednesday. Johnson, who has not previously worked for Fox Sports, played competitive soccer in his youth and had a four-day tryout with MLS club Sporting Kansas City during the 2011 NFL lockout. He joins a studio crew that also consists of host Kate Abdo, former USMNT player Maurice Edu, and a rotation of guest analysts. (Fox Sports PR)

ESPN hires Larry Fitzgerald in latest NFL move

ESPN announced Thursday that it has hired former Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald as a studio analyst. Fitzgerald will make multiple appearances as an on-site analyst for Monday Night Countdown, joining second-year ESPN analysts Robert Griffin III and Alex Smith as new additions to the program. He will also contribute to playoff editions of the Sunday NFL Countdown, including during ESPN’s Super Bowl studio coverage.

The Fitzgerald hire is just the latest in a series of NFL moves by ESPN. The network is also adding former Colts CB Darius Butler as an analyst for NFL Matchup and has announced contract extensions with a number of NFL reporters and analysts — the aforementioned Smith, Steve Young, Booger McFarland, Jeff Saturday, Jeff Darlington, Dan Graziano, Kimberley A. Martin, Ed Werder and Stephania Bell. (ESPN PR)

Pat McAfee returning to College Gameday

ESPN announced Wednesday that radio host Pat McAfee will return to College Gameday as a full-time analyst starting this weekend, returning to the show after a two-year absence. McAfee previously served as a contributor on Gameday in the 2019 and 2020 seasons.

In addition to his Gameday role, McAfee will also host six college football “Manningcast” alternate presentations on ESPN2, contribute to ESPN’s Super Bowl and Pro Bowl NFL coverage, and make select appearances on ESPN’s “Get Up!” morning show. (ESPN PR)

Plus: Gottlieb suit, Al Michaels, Kay Adams

Baseball agent Casey Close is dropping his lawsuit against Doug Gottlieb after the Fox Sports radio host retracted and apologized for his claim that Close failed to notify Dodgers 1B Freddie Freeman of a contract offer by his former team the Atlanta Braves. … New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft lobbied Fox Sports to hire former NBC NFL play-by-play voice Al Michaels as its lead play-by-play voice, the New York Post reported early last week. As most are well aware, Fox did make an offer and Michaels ended up with Amazon. … Former “Good Morning Football” host Kay Adams began hosting a new morning show on Fanduel TV (formerly TVG) Tuesday. Adams confirmed to the New York Post this week that she had previously been negotiating with Amazon for the Thursday Night Football hosting role, but that the sides were unable to come to terms. (ESPN.com 9.7, NYP 8.29, NYP 9.7, Fanduel PR 9.5)

Notre Dame-Ohio State highlights strong start to CFB season

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:

4 years ago

I have no issue with 85 being a part of a studio team for FIBA. For one it’s a late night show that will recap earlier action and possibly preview next day action. It’s not like he’s doing pregame, halftime, or postgame coverage which would’ve been a BOLD move by FOX. Instead why not have it late night and have someone that knows the basics of the sport, but could relate to the casuals that might tune in. I’m still curious on if Rob Stone will be in Qatar or Columbus, Ohio and Indianapolis late November and early December. What I won’t be surprised is if they copy what NBC did with Mike Tirico last February by having Stone start out in the host country and then come to the states for a significant football event (or for FOX case, events). What would be different though than Tirico is having Stone fly back out to host country and finishing out a well-known international sporting event.

Pat McAfee going on College Gameday is very huge for the future of that program. I was concerned about their future once Lee Corso puts his final headgear on, but I believe McAfee is an excellent replacement for Corso when that moment comes. He has more personality than Herbstreit, Howard, and Pollack so with him engaging with the guest(s) they’ll bring on weekly and also how he is great at crowd controlling I believe it’s a huge win for ESPN and College Gameday. One other thing I believe needs to be pointed out is that ESPN was once loudly accused of being SEC-bias. Of all the personalities I named only one has deep ties to the SEC and that’s David Pollack. Everyone else didn’t play nor coach in the SEC and for at least most part of their lives didn’t live in the SEC region. I can include Todd Blackledge who’s the number 2 in-game analyst to that mix as well along with their top 4 play-by-play men as well. So while this is maybe 8 years too late to address, seeing McAfee get the gig really opened my mind to that.

Last points:

1.) Robert Kraft approaching FOX about Al Michaels is no big deal at all and honestly no surprise. It is an open secret on how the NFL wants to have its influence on the broadcast (CBS, NBC, and FOX all having their top team call TNF at least in their 1st year of the deal plus them having 3 different play-by-play men on MNF between Tirico’s final call and Buck’s upcoming first call). With that said, I believe we will need to keep very close tabs on Kevin Burkhardt this season. It’s not just the Super Bowl, but also the Cowboys’ Thanksgiving game and the NFC Championship game. It is very important for him (and maybe or maybe not, Greg Olsen) to present an alarming first impression or Robert Kraft and other NFL reps could become more urgent to FOX on bringing in Al Michaels as the top play-by-play man for two more seasons at least.

2.) I’m glad Doug Gottlieb admitted his guilt and wrong on the Freddie Freeman situation. I’m not a huge Gottlieb person (though I thought he was a decent College Basketball analyst for ESPN in the 2000s and March Madness in the early 2010s), but that was a low blow on what he reported about Close. Things like that could make future baseball players really avoid considering having Close as their agent and it’s all due to reporting false information. It seemed to me Close was doing what Freeman wanted, but Atlanta wasn’t willing to offer a 6th year on his timing and believed they lost Freeman who was absolutely a fan-favorite in Atlanta. With all said, I’m glad that’s almost behind everyone with Atlanta only a half game behind the Mets for their division pennant and also Freeman doing well in Los Angeles (he might win the batting title). At the end of the day, it’s a business. Unfortunately, I have no idea what Gottlieb was thinking but at least he did something he was suppose to do and that’s admitting he was wrong and apologizing.