The August 17 episode of the SI Media Podcast with Richard Deitsch featured an appearance from James Andrew Miller, perhaps best known as the author of “These Guys Have All The Fun: Inside The World of ESPN.”
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That doesn’t mean that Berman is going away for good (sorry). Our own Matt Yoder pondered the idea of an ESPN without Chris Berman and it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Even if you don’t enjoy his puns and Home Run Derby calls, Berman was the voice and face of the network for decades and there’s intrinsic value in that.
So Deitsch had Miller what role, if any, Berman might have moving forward with ESPN. While it’s only conjecture, Miller doesn’t think we will have seen the last of Boomer once February rolls around.
“I think it’s incredibly easy because what you do is you basically give him an emeritus role. And you say to him, ‘look if you still want to be part of the ESPN biosphere, that’s great. You can do Home Run Derby and do a voiceover or make an appearance during the ESPYs. And next year during NFL, you can have a two-and-a-half minute video segment or the video equivalent of a column per se, and we will weave you into the fabric of ESPN in numerous ways.'”
The truth is that they’ve made the decision that next year there’s going to be a new host to that Sunday show and that’s the decision. One you make that decision, everything else is beside the point. It’s not an entitlement program and I think they let him stay and they wanted him to stay as long as he has, but it’s clear that now his role is gonna change.”
Through his agent, Berman has let it be known that he would keep the status quo if he could. However it appears that ship has sailed. It’s unlikely that Berman and ESPN will ever truly part ways but an emeritus role certainly feels like the way to go for both parties, assuming bridges don’t get burned beforehand.
[SI]
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