Craig Carton open to breaking bread with Mike Francesa

If Mike Francesa is willing, Craig Carton maintains he’s open to bridging one of the biggest gaps in New York sports radio history.

Francesa and Carton have long been radio enemies, even throughout their tenure on the same team as pillars at WFAN. Carton has often told the story of Francesa predicting his morning radio show with Boomer Esiason wouldn’t last a year, which seemingly set the relationship off on the wrong foot. In the following years, the relationship never recovered, with Carton often mocking Francesa, and Francesa attempting to exude arrogance over the station’s thriving morning show.

Fast forward nearly two decades, Carton is now in his second tenure in afternoon drive on WFAN, co-hosting with Francesa’s former producer, Chris McMonigle. And while others have tried and failed to bridge the gap between Carton and Francesa, McMonigle claimed he could be the conduit to making it happen during their Tuesday afternoon show on WFAN.

“I would not say no,” Carton immediately said of a potential meeting with Francesa. “And by the way, the architect (Audacy executive Chris Oliviero who oversees WFAN and the Infinity Sports Network) has tried for years. Because I’ve always said, if Mike says ‘yes,’ my answer is yes. However you want to do it. On the air, off the air, his house, my house, your house, I’ve said yes to that, 20 times over.”

Francesa and Carton did appear together several times on WFAN despite their public feuds. In 2009, Francesa joined Boomer and Carton live from Citi Field for a celebratory event when the stadium was opening. Francesa also joined Boomer and Carton in 2012 for WFAN’s 25th anniversary.

Joining the Awful Announcing Podcast earlier this year, Carton said he believes he could have worked with Francesa.

“It would have been a great show for about a month. And then it just would have exploded for sure. either he would have wanted to kill me, I would have wanted to kill him. But as a radio guy, he and I don’t have to like each other personally, I respect the career, I respect the success. And he and I will never break bread together, I can tell you that.”

It might never happen, but Carton is at least willing to admit he’s open to breaking bread with Francesa. Now it’s on Francesa to be similarly amenable. The problem is, there’s really no need for Francesa to bridge that gap since he’s no longer on the same team as Carton and doesn’t really have a relationship with WFAN or its afternoon show. Longtime WFAN listeners, however, would certainly be interested in seeing it happen. But don’t expect it.