Earlier this week professional radio host and amateur sociologist Colin Cowherd opined on his big money move west from Bristol to Los Angeles to work for Fox Sports. Cowherd’s reasoning for leaving ESPN has been rooted in wanting a new challenge at this point in his life and career and a chance to be a part of building something at FS1. (Oh, and of course Rupert Murdoch’s millions don’t hurt either.)
One quote of many that stood out in Cowherd’s interview with John Ourand at Sports Business Journal, and it’s this one about his time at ESPN being simulcasted on ESPNU:
“People ask me, ‘What’s it like to leave ESPN?’ and I say, ‘I’m not leaving ESPN. I’m leaving ESPNU,’” Cowherd said. “That’s what I was on. That network doesn’t even have a sales staff. Now, I’m going to be on Fox. I’m going to be front and center. I’m going to be on bigger projects. I’m going to be promoted. It’s not about being on television. It’s about being on television on the right projects.”
ESPNU may not be the mothership, but it’s certainly not some afterthought – it’s in almost 75 million homes! Also, let’s not forget that we’re talking about a television simulcast here of a show that was streamed nationwide on ESPN Radio. Also, Cowherd implying he wasn’t promoted at ESPN is ridiculous since he was given his own Sunday morning NFL show as well. The ESPN PR archives also show quite a bit of promotion of Cowherd over the years.
Cowherd’s diss of ESPNU was also not well received by a current Bristol staffer. ESPNU and SEC Network host Dari Nowkhah tweeted this:
Nice of @ColinCowherd to diss @ESPNU, who gave him a TV platform 3 hours every day. Yep, those fine folks sure deserve that. #GoodLuckBro
— Dari Nowkhah (@ESPNDari) September 9, 2015
Remember when Colin Cowherd was waxing poetically about what a great time he had at ESPN and how great his relationship with the network was? Yea, that seems like a loooooong time ago.
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