On Wednesday, Mike Francesa announced that he would be leaving WFAN (again), with his last show coming on Friday.

In their post announcing Francesa’s decision, WFAN decided to ignore Francesa’s first departure from the station, which came at the end of 2017. He returned months later with a significant pay cut, and was roundly insulted by the sports radio world.

When he returned, he came with a much-maligned app called Mike’s On, which originally cost $8.99 per month. After a little more than a year, the paywall was dropped. Francesa has been teasing another possible departure since the moment he returned. He left his full afternoon show in December, and is now leaving both his Radio.com hour and the remaining half hour he had on WFAN, per Newsday.

Newsday also reports Francesa’s rationale for leaving, which comes down to the word “flexibility.”

He said he was motivated largely by a desire to be free of daily commitments, allowing him to do more traveling with his family – including upcoming college visits with his three high school-age children – to spend more time at his Florida home and to pursue other interests, including partnerships in seven thoroughbred racehorses.

“I’ve been pinned down to a daily schedule my whole life, and I want to be free of that so I have some flexibility,” he said.

Francesa said he will not appear on any other New York-area radio station and does not expect ever to have a daily show on radio again.

This news isn’t nearly as surprising (or as significant) as his departure in the winter of 2017. However, just from Francesa’s statements, and WFAN’s apparently desire to move on and reform their lineup, this departure does seem more final when compared to the first time he left the station.

[WFAN, Newsday]

About Joe Lucia

I hate your favorite team. I also sort of hate most of my favorite teams.