Per SI.com’s Richard Deitsch, major changes could be coming to ESPN’s morning lineup. The upper brass in Bristol is apparently exploring the idea of breaking up Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic and giving Greenberg his own television show on ESPN.
The idea behind the changes would be to strengthen ESPN’s morning SportsCenter, which has struggled with ratings as competing viewing options in that time slot, such as NFL Network’s Good Morning Football, have cropped up.
Greenberg and Golic have hosted Mike & Mike on ESPN Radio since 1998. and the show has been simulcast on ESPN2 since 2006. Airing weekdays from 6-10 a.m., Greenberg and Golic have become a centerpiece of ESPN morning radio programming. Ending their show (or simply removing Greenberg) would weaken their lineup.
Previously, ESPN floated moving Mike & Mike to New York before quickly scrapping the idea. Here’s what ESPN executive Traug Keller told Deitsch in March about the company’s vision for the show.
“I will tell you that a litmus test of mine for Mike & Mike and how it fits in with the brand is I want Mike & Mike to be able to be on with the moms driving the kids in the backseat to school,” Keller said. “We get feedback on that, and it matters. It matters to our brand. Do we want to have the sports show of record where commissioners want to come to get their point of view across? Yes. All that stuff matters. It actually allows us to deliver an audience that advertisers feel very comfortable in and more and more today advertisers are trying to stay away from controversial talk.
We’ll see if anything comes of these talks. If Greenberg leaves, it’s unclear what would happen to Mike & Mike’s radio slot or to Golic. According to Deitsch, Golic could pair with his son, Mike Golic Jr. But we’ll worry about that when it comes to it.
[SI.com]
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