ESPN has re-signed Michael Eaves to a new multi-year contract, keeping one of its most reliable anchors in Bristol for the foreseeable future. The network announced the deal on Friday but didn’t immediately reveal the terms.
This is Eaves’ second contract extension since joining ESPN in 2015, and it keeps him at SportsCenter late nights and in front of the camera at golf’s biggest events. He signed a four-year deal in 2021 that was set to expire. From anchoring in Bristol to post-round interviews at the Masters and PGA Championship, Eaves has done just about everything the network has asked, and, in the words of ESPN exec Mike Foss, always with professionalism and versatility.
“I can’t believe it’s already been 10 years since I signed my first ESPN contract. Time flies when you’re having fun, and I’ve been doing that during my time here,” Eaves said in a statement.
For Eaves, the journey has been about more than highlights and tee times. He grew up in a Kentucky town that was 98 percent white, where opportunities outside coal mines, farms, or factory work were scarce. A career in sports felt like a long shot.
“Where I’m from, you ended up doing a few things,” he told the Louisville Courier-Journal in 2021. “Work in the coal mines, work on a farm, or maybe you got lucky and got a nice job in Nashville or Evansville or Louisville working in healthcare or something like that.”
That background shaped his career and how he uses his platform. As his profile grew at ESPN, he became more comfortable speaking out on racial and social justice issues.
“If I don’t do something, who will?” he said on ESPN’s PRod Pod.
Eaves was also a standout golfer in high school, the first Black player to qualify for the Kentucky state tournament. That connection to the game helped him land a prominent role in ESPN’s golf coverage, taking on duties once held by Tom Rinaldi.
Before ESPN, Eaves carved out a wide-ranging career that included stints in Lexington, Memphis, Los Angeles, and a run at Al Jazeera America. He covered the Clippers, Angels, Lakers, Dodgers, and Pac-12 football for FOX Sports West/Prime Ticket, collecting four LA-Area Emmys and a Telly Award along the way. The LA Press Club named him Best Television Anchor in Southern California in 2013.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.