ESPN personalities often take some outside work, and that’s particularly true for Tim Tebow. The network first hired Tebow in December 2013, and he’s appeared across their platforms since (particularly on SEC Network and its SEC Nation pregame show after that network’s August 2014 launch) despite also conducting a minor-league baseball career (2016-2021) and trying the NFL twice more (with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015 and the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021).
Tebow also does regular public speaking engagements, and one of those got some interesting attention recently. Last Saturday, he was one of the featured speakers at Life Surge in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, a conference billed as “America’s #1 Christian Wealth Creation Event.” (He’s set to be a featured speaker at four more Life Surge events across the country over the next two months.) And he played a significant role in the writeup of that Minnesota event from Jay Boller at reader-funded publication Racket, which was titled “My Bleak Day at the Star-Studded, Get-Rich-Quick Jesus Jamboree”:
10 hours. 4,000 attendees. A whole lot of salesmanship. https://t.co/iJPHKvJ9eA
— Racket (@RacketMN) July 19, 2023
Here’s some of the Tebow-focused discussion from that piece:
As a public speaker, Tebow might benefit from Life Surge “Impact Classes.” His tenor ranged from a whispered youth pastor earnestness to a forced and flat-sounding revivalist cry. As a stand-in for actual depth, he kept returning to a rhetorical trick others had used liberally during their speeches: using the Latin etymology of words to dubiously fortify their arguments. At multiple points I wondered: How was this guy convincing to teammates in the huddle?
…Tebow’s next story was about bothering notoriously cranky New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick about whether he could star in a commercial for $1 million, after already being told to not be a distraction. Belichick reiterated that no, Tim, please do not do the ad spot, presumably one for a Christian-rooted company. Tebow complied, but now he understands that prioritizing football over his faith was a mistake. With a chuckle, he added that he was cut weeks later anyway.
“Being most passionate about eternal things” is the righteous path, he said, and also “choosing people’s best interests.” That latter one is pretty rich, considering the cavalcade of shilling that preceded him.
Tebow concluded by saying that, while already attending church three-plus times per week as a young man, he had somehow not formally accepted Jesus into heart at that point in life. He asked everyone to close their eyes, and instructed those who are willing to accept Christ for the first time to raise their hand. He seemed to register the smattering of hands that popped up as full-on conversations in his W column, prompting me to scribble: “Don’t they already believe in Jesus??” To his minor credit, Tebow was the first and only speaker that day who didn’t have anything to sell other than His word; his wide-eyed, fire ‘n’ brimstone-free flavor of wholesome evangelicalism felt at odds with everything else that had happened that day.
There’s more in there, too. That includes Tebow again telling his old story (from his own book) of turning down $1 million for a commercial appearance at the request of New England Patriots’ head coach Bill Belichick, only for Belichick to cut him a few weeks later anyway. But, really, as Boller notes in the final paragraph above, at least Tebow wasn’t trying to particularly sell anything, unlike the rest of the speakers at this conference.
The most interesting part of this from a sports media perspective may be that discussion of “How was this guy convincing?” That’s been a topic of some discussion with Tebow as a broadcaster as well. He’s had some moments that have earned praise, including being critical of his alma mater and officiating when warranted. But he’s also had some that have brought a lot of criticism, including defending DJ Durkin around his 2018 firing by Maryland amidst troubling revelations around that program and not impressing many with his one season of regular First Take appearances in 2021 (probably the larger reason he hasn’t shown up there much, rather than Stephen A. Smith’s “I almost feel like I’m destined for hell” comment about the perils of debating Tebow).
And it’s been curious to see how flexible ESPN has been with Tebow relative to many others, including repeated opportunities to pursue professional baseball and football careers while still keeping his ESPN gigs. And he’s seemingly never even really been floated as a potential cost-cutting layoff. And that’s notable around huge waves of layoffs that have included more prominent people, and notable considering that it comes despite largely average-at-best reviews of his broadcasting career to date.
It seems clear that ESPN is fine with Tebow doing whatever he wants when he’s not on their airwaves (and he has plenty of other interests, including even co-owning a new ECHL team in Lake Tahoe). So him giving a speech at this particular conference doesn’t seem like a big deal for them. But it’s interesting to hear another Tebow speech get roasted this way, and with questions about how he was ever even convincing to teammates. (We may or may not get some more answers on that latter front in upcoming four-part Netflix series Untold: Swamp Kings.)
And this does further show Tebow’s many interests outside the broadcasting realm, even if those aren’t always well-received by everyone who views them. For those who do think this sounds like a good time, though, Tebow is set to speak at the next four Life Surge events. Those are set for Pittsburgh, Sacramento, St. Louis, and San Jose.
