Today was a very busy day in the world of sports media in terms of personalities changing affilations. The most noteworthy of the bunch was CBS college basketball writer Jeff Goodman, who will be heading to ESPN. Goodman leaves CBS for a more enhanced role on television with ESPN. Last year, ESPN shrewdly hired Brett McMurphy away from CBS on the college football front. McMurphy's hiring immediately paid dividends with the chaos surrounding realignment and the Big East split.
In other media news, USA Today NFL columnist Mike Garafolo is heading to Fox Sports 1. I'd assume he'd be a part of the Curt Menefee/Jay Glazer Fox Football Daily program, but his hiring is another coup for Fox, who is clearly going all-in and attempting to knock ESPN from their pedestal.
The rumblings surrounding Fox didn't end with Garafolo, however. The Big Lead is reporting that they're going hard after Donovan McNabb, potentially as a part of Fox Sports Live. Fox hired Andy Roddick this week to join Charissa Thompson, and the Canadian duo of Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole on their counterpart to SportsCenter.
But wait, there's more. Former Broncos defensive end Trevor Pryce is nearly signed to Fox for a spot on Regis Philbin's daily Crowd Gone Wild program, and ESPN's Sarah Spain has also been linked to Fox Sports 1 and the Philbin program. If you want to talk about leaving no stone unturned looking for talent, that's exactly what Fox is doing right now. Lost in all of their hires however, is ESPN's hire of Goodman, which will do a lot to solidify their college basketball coverage.
I think the big question going forth isn't the arms race between ESPN and Fox, but where this will leave CBS and NBC. Neither network has done to boost their supply of properties during the TV rights craze of the last year, and they're clearly beginning to lag behing ESPN and Fox in terms of up and coming on-air talent as well.
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About Joe Lucia
I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.