Sports Media Spotlight: Who’s next to host ESPN’s ‘Monday Night Football’?

It’s been another several weeks with hardly any meaningful major competition (except NASCAR and UFC) but sports media-related news has continued at a steady pace for weeks now — and it will continue into June, when more major sports are set to begin competition.

One of the biggest stories remains months away. Still, it promises the matchups most people will watch and most critics will pan. That’s “Monday Night Football.”

Since ESPN announced that Joe Tessitore and Booger McFarland were out, speculation has percolated about their successors.

First, the Tessitore-McFarland duo was less than the sum of its parts. It’s just hard to believe they failed, but they did.

While Tessitore works well on boxing and college football, his loud, over-the-top efforts were unnecessary working the most important games in U.S. professional sports. He sounded bombastic and silly most Monday nights, masking his strong preparation and professionalism.

At the same time, McFarland, who shined with every assignment ESPN had previously handed him, seemed to change under the “MNF” spotlight. Maybe he was nudged astray, perhaps emboldened by consultants or encouraged by network officials, but instead of insightful and relatable he became more combative and opinionated. Viewers did not get insights, but talking points.

At times, “MNF” games with them sounded like efforts to embrace debate, following the model of successful ESPN daytime shows. What their work did not sound like was a smooth-flowing football broadcast.

Critics pounced and viewers piled on. Network officials were forced to make a move.

They have no better options, though. Every day makes it seem more certain Steve Levy will be the next play-by-play man. Eh. Same with Dan Orlovsky as color commentator.

They’re capable pros. They’re not the No. 1 team for a network’s NFL games, though.

Unfortunately, an inspired choice for the play-by-play duties does not exist. The network’s talent pool no longer remains that deep — although if they tried anyone but Levy it would be more intriguing.

In terms of commentary, Louis Riddick should be the choice. He’s smart and solid, opinionated without being over the top.

Still, Levy and Orlovsky seem safe in the eyes of some and Orlovsky has already started his crossover duties — appearing on ABC’s “Disney Family Singalong, Volume 2” last month.

Bad baseball

For all that football and the NFL luck into or do right (with the pandemic falling mostly during its offseason and despite silly arguments about replay rules the pros will never get right), baseball seems to similarly get things wrong.

Finding a way to start baseball season remains elusive for MLB. Along with all the challenges, the owners and players cannot find a way — at least easily or publicly — to seem like they’re on the same page. Nor can they do anything other than think about themselves. It’s a shame.

The monetary disagreements have rippled to minor league baseball, killing this summer’s action. Even college baseball is not immune, with several programs across the country cutting baseball to balance their budgets.

In fairness, MLB, with its every day schedule and teams across the country, faces sizable logistical challenges. Even if owners and players could work together, those challenges would be immense.

With them working toward separate agendas, there’s almost no chance for success.

If the summer somehow reaches its conclusion without baseball, that would be a significant loss for the sport — and probably for petty reasons.

Good golf

Many businesses have adapted since the coronavirus pandemic began, finding ways to operate out of necessity and some of those things can make the business better going forward.

Count professional golf in that category — if those in charge are wise enough to take the chance.

The second successful exhibition match pairing Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady against Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning last month provided a perfect combination of access and technology. Close up cameras and players with microphones explaining their shots could easily work for regular tournaments.

Yes, it would be different from usual, but unusual does not mean that everything needs to be upended. Some tweaks could be compelling and help get viewers “inside the ropes” during coverage.

It might even be fun. That would not demean the professionalism of those involved or make it silly. It could be better, though, and here’s hoping some broadcasters take that chance.

Paring Peacock

All of NBC’s on-air sports talent agreed to voluntary pay cuts in May.

Network officials described the cuts as temporary and in the 5-10% range, according to multiple sources. The cuts will last at least until the end of the year, by which time those network officials hope some regular sports inventory has materialized — as well as sponsorship dollars to support the broadcasts and full salaries again.

Senior management at NBCUniversal has previously accepted 20% pay cuts and employees making more than $100,000 per year were cut by 3%.

The network’s PR folks offered this from NBC Sports Group President Pete Bevacqua about how things played out with the on-air talent.

“Our on-air personalities reached out to see how they could contribute to helping our company during this difficult time, and all have voluntarily accepted temporary pay reductions,” he said. “It’s another reminder of the truly great team we have at NBC Sports and how we’re all working together to get through this immense challenge.”

Pioneer Phyllis

Some belated and necessary praise for TV sports pioneer Phyllis George, who died May 16.

George, famously a former Miss America, joined the on-air team for “The NFL Today,” the NFL pregame show that featured Brent Musburger and Irv Cross on CBS Sports in 1975. The on-air team later added Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder.

The show dominated the pregame NFL genre, making it relevant and worth watching. George’s personality and professionalism were a big part of that success. She was curious and talented. She worked three seasons, then returned in 1980 for three more.

She also covered horse racing, hosted the entertainment show “People” and co-anchored the “CBS Morning News.”

Even though she was clearly talented and made those she covered more appealing and relatable, she received criticism and hate mail. Still, she showed a generation of aspiring sport media talent — a generation of women — that anything was possible.

As sports fans, we’ve been better because of her work every day as a result.

Soccer starting I

The Premier League returns to play June 17, with games beginning June 20 on NBC. There could be plenty of games, as many as four each Saturday and Sunday, with some weekday windows for competition as well.

There’s a good chance that competition will attract decent viewership whenever the games air.

More is not always better, but more soccer might be a welcome option for many viewers who’ve been missing sports in general, especially soccer fans who have been growing viewership across networks (and leagues) in recent years.

Soccer starting II

The National Women’s Soccer League (remember the push and relevancy they were supposed to get and have after the Women’s World Cup a few years ago?) will resume play June 27 with a 25-match tournament in Utah. The event has sponsorship from Budweiser, Procter & Gamble and Secret, among others.

It’ll be fine for the niche it fits, and there’s no doubt about the quality of the play.

Even in what seems to be a sports desert, though, there has not been any widespread clamoring for the league’s return. That’s why the league itself was never able to capitalize on the bump in interest in the Women’s World Cup. Other than some regional hotbeds and towns with strong college programs, many people continue to see women’s soccer only as once-every-four-years event.

Tuner tidbits

• ESPN plans two days of coverage of the MLB Draft. That includes the first round at 7 p.m. Wednesday and then rounds two through five at 5 p.m. Thursday.

• Here’s hoping that enough sports return this month for Channel 10’s sports guy to drop the black-and-white “missing sports” segments during the nightly newscasts. They had a life, and proved his creativity: kudos. At some point, though, the little bit of airtime invested in showing them, and the even greater amount of time invested in their production has to be able be used more wisely.

• ESPN has lost some talent in recent weeks, in part because of contracts lapsing and some penny pinching on the part of the all-sports network. The departure of play-by-play man Adam Amin for Fox Sports will hurt greatly in the long run. He’s multitalented and versatile, having handled college football, MLB and NBA games as well as the Women’s Final Four. At Fox, Amin will get NFL, MLB and college football assignments. His arrival will make that network better.

• Not that many years ago, ESPN was cable’s goliath — with just a smidge over 100 million subscribers — but cord cutting has felled the all-sports giant. According to May numbers, Food Network was atop the list because it was available in 86.7 million homes. It was followed by HGTV (86.2 million) and TBS (86.1). ESPN and ESPN2 remained atop the sports network list, each at 86.2 million. That put them ahead of NBC Sports Network (79.4), Fox Sports 1 (79.3) and Golf Channel (67.8).

This story was originally published June 7, 2020 at 9:00 AM.