Apparently, constantly shoving Tim Tebow down everyone's throat is attractive to some people, as Deadspin sources revealed that the brains behind First Take, ESPN VP Jamie Horowitz, may be headed to The Today Show of all places…
ESPN vice president Jamie Horowitz, the midwife of Bristol's "Embrace Debate" era that made us all a little dumber, has been approached by NBC to take control of the Today show, according to two sources. A deal appears likely, we're told, though Horowitz still has to extract himself from his contract with ESPN. At the moment, one source says, ESPN president John Skipper is trying to coax a sizable ransom out of Comcast, NBC's parent company. The source put the chances of the deal going through at "70-30 or 65-35."
Horowitz is also responsible for SportsNation, Numbers Never Lie, and Olbermann.
What's interesting are the dominoes that could fall from this move and the questions this move would create. Horowitz's departure could totally shift ESPN's emphasis on phony debate shows and begin to marginalize the presence of the likes of Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith. Then again, ESPN could keep the monster alive and move the next person up into the director's chair.
But what does it say about NBC that they are bringing in ESPN's most notorious producer, and how will ABC feel about all of this? Granted Horowitz has handled a lot of big personalities (Bayless, Smith, Olbermann) but how would that translate to the news world? An ESPN source went on to note to Deadspin that it would "really upset the culture" if Horowitz left ESPN because Bristol is supposed to be a destination job and not a stepping stone.
Isn't that what Erin Andrews did? And Michelle Beadle? (At least before she came back.) Didn't the network survive?
But really, if this actually happens, we need to brace ourselves for Kathie Lee and Hoda drinking Chardonnay at 8am trying to play matchmaker for Tim Tebow.
