With the NCAA Tournament around the corner, ESPN is going all-in with their college basketball coverage. Championship Week is always a big event with conference tournaments from around the country taking place and invites to the big dance being handed out. It all leads up to Selection Sunday right around the corner.
Now, yesterday we told you about ESPN going further than they ever have before by dedicating 24 hours of non-stop bracket coverage for the men’s and women’s tournaments from Monday evening into Tuesday evening. But what’s buried deep within all of the details and the dozens and dozens of college basketball experts on Bristol airwaves is this golden nugget of information.
Brent Musburger will be returning to ESPN. From Las Vegas. To offer gambling advice.
Yes, Musburger will make his not-so-long-awaited ESPN comeback from Sin City alongside Dick Vitale (that should make for some amazing television) as the network says he will “offer his Vegas betting insight.” Adam Amin will host a full set in Vegas with Sean Farnham, Steve Coughlin, and Kenny Mayne. Talk about an eclectic bunch. Have Musburger, Vitale, and Mayne ever shared camera time together? Imagine all the possibilities!
It was just a month ago that Musburger officially retired from his announcing duties at ESPN in the middle of the basketball season to start his handicapping adventure, hosting a radio show on a new Vegas-inspired SiriusXM channel.
It’s ironic that Musburger would make veiled gambling references during his commentary for years and now he’s coming on ESPN as a full-fledged Vegas expert. In some ways he’s finally fulfilled his destiny.
Seriously though, could this be the beginning of regular gambling-related segments for Musburger as a regular guest analyst on ESPN? Why not? Why wouldn’t the network use one of the most famous announcers in the history of sports television as their newest guru on all of the Vegas lines? If Chris Berman can have an “emeritus role” at ESPN then Musburger should be able to have his own emeritus role as the new version of Hank Goldberg.
ESPN has definitely embraced sports betting more and more in recent years and bringing back Musburger to provide betting tips for the NCAA Tournament is just the next logical step in that evolution.
