During Super Bowl Week in the Bay Area, Shane Newell, a Stanford journalism graduate student had the privilege of driving Sports Illustrated’s Peter King to and from events. In exchange, Newell got to observe King while he was a pool reporter covering the Denver Broncos and interview him.
Newell asked King about his future at Sports Illustrated being the editor-in-chief of Monday Morning QB. King replied that he’s thinking of maybe leaving SI and focusing on TV full-time. King is one of the insiders on NBC’s Football Night in America and is considering moving there full-time and writing his Monday Morning QB for NBC Sports’ website. In discussing things with Newell, King says writing the MMQB column has become a lot of work as he pulls all-nighters on Sunday night into Monday morning and is thinking about scaling back.
“It is too much work, and it is a real weight on my shoulders every week, but when I finish writing (the column), I feel like this is sort of a good contribution to people’s intelligence about pro football.”
In thinking out loud, King mentioned to Newell that he might want to venture into politics and cover the 2020 Presidential election. He also talked about covering baseball full-time. When asked why he might want to leave SI, his home since 1989, King told Newell:
“Part of what I think about is, ‘Should I do something else?’ ‘Should I try some other thing?’
“Maybe, ‘Should I try to do more television than I’ve done?’”
All of this information came to Newell in his first day of chaffeuring King throughout the Bay Area. He wondered if it was the long grind of the season talking or if King was really serious about leaving SI:
Listening, I wonder if it’s the fatigue of a long season that has him talking about leaving SI for new challenges, or if it’s just Peter King being Peter King, and asking himself tough questions.
I reached Sports Illustrated Executive Editor Jon Wertheim. He declined to comment on King’s future.
Could King actually be serious and branch out from football? Or is this a negotiating ploy with Sports Illustrated? SI gave him the MMQB site two years ago to entice him to stay and gave him the power to bring in the writers he wanted. Would he be willing to leave so soon? But he did say if he chose to stay with MMQB, King would want to see more videos and podcasts on the site.
So will we have drama called “As Peter King Turns” or will this be resolved quickly? Only time will tell.
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