These days, FOX NFL sideline reporter Erin Andrews is famous for covering the NFL, a job she has done since 2014. Before FOX, Andrews was at ESPN from 2004-2012 covering college football among other sports. However, she had always wanted to get a shot at the NFL.
On the latest episode of the Just Getting Started with Rich Eisen podcast, Andrews discussed with Eisen why she decided to make the tough decision to leave ESPN for a new challenge in her career at FOX.
“It was time. I probably called you [Eisen], I called a lot of people about it. I felt like I had done everything I was going to be allowed to do there,” she said. “I wanted to really be a part of the NFL. I had done 3-4 championship games, I had done College Gameday. I just knew if I was going to have a shot at the NFL, it was going to be at FOX.”
Andrews has had some memorable first moments in her career. Her first college football game as a sideline reporter for ESPN was in 2004 when Virginia Tech played #1 USC, a game in which ESPN took the viewer behind the scenes.
Even though Andrews felt she wasn’t ready for it, she appreciated that ESPN threw her into the proverbial deep end of the pool for her first broadcast.
Another memorable first for her was when she worked the Seahawks sideline for their playoff game against Washington in January 2013 when Robert Griffin III tore his ACL and LCL.
Of course, on this podcast, Erin Andrews talked about her famous interview with Richard Sherman after the 2013 NFC Championship Game, an interview in which she is very critical of herself. She said the FOX crew knew about the bad blood Sherman and Michael Crabtree had, but she still hates the question that she ended up asking Sherman.
“My face is holy s***, this is the biggest thing I have ever seen in a postgame interview. I know exactly where this is coming from between him and Crabtree. What is my next question going to be because everybody is watching this. This is going to go viral. At that point, I knew he was screaming ‘don’t you ever talk to me like that again!’ I knew he wasn’t talking about me, but I didn’t think people at home knew what was going on. I wish my face hadn’t looked like that. It wasn’t my best moment, but I thought it was awesome what happened with him.”
Erin Andrews did end up interviewing Sherman for FOX’s Super Bowl coverage that year and she brought up an idea that SNICKERS never used for a commercial to the Pro Bowl corner.
“I’m going to contact MARS candy and tell them you and I need a SNICKERS commercial and we are going to re-enact it and I’m going to give you a SNICKERS and it’s going to be fine. I did and they didn’t take it.”
Ricky Keeler is a reporter for BSM with a primary focus on sports media podcasts and national personalities. He is also an active podcaster with an interest in pursuing a career in sports media. You can find him on Twitter @Rickinator555 or reach him by email at RickJKeeler@gmail.com.
The origins of their partnership were discussed and Bayless admitted he did not like the way Smith characterized the state of First Take before he arrived on set. Smith insisted that Bayless simply misunderstood what he meant by saying that he was told the show needed him.
Over the weekend, Skip Bayless says he and Stephen A. Smith got together at the Bayless home in California to talk things out in private.
“He was in LA, he came over, we sat by the pool,” he said on the latest episode of The Skip Bayless Show. “It wasn’t the easiest conversation for a while, but we slowly but surely sorted it out. We got through it, and we have been through so much together.”
Bayless reiterated that he considers Smith a brother. They love each other. That doesn’t mean they are always going to remember events the same way or see eye-to-eye all the time.
“Brothers fight. We have fought before. I’m assuming we will fight again.”
Fighting doesn’t mean the relationship is fractured. In fact, Skip Bayless was adamant that he remains closer to Smith than he is to most people in his life.
“I don’t trust easily because of the way I was raised, but I do trust Stephen Anthony Smith. Trust him with my life. Always have and always will. I trust he will always be there for me, and you better believe I will always be there for him.”
Michael Mulvihill says the USFL accomplished exactly what FOX needed it to. It proved there is a large enough audience for spring football that it has a value on par with some of the hottest properties in sports media right now.
“All we wanted to do is demonstrate that spring football can do viewership at the levels of Premier League, NHL regular season, Formula One or MLS,” the FOX Sports Executive VP said according to Sports Business Journal. “We want to show we belong in that category, and I think that happened.”
While none of those properties are pulling in the kind of media rights money the NFL or major college football is, Mulvihill pointed out that all of them have been in the news for the right reasons.
“You’re talking about properties that have all recently negotiated deals at substantial increases, or with F1, people know it’s about to.”
The USFL had a solid broadcasting footprint with games airing on FOX, NBC, FS1 and USA. Regular season games for the first year of the revived league averaged just under 700,000 viewers.
Mulvihill said fans behaved exactly how he expected them to in the first season of the USFL. Without any team loyalties, he isn’t surprised that people watched less of an average USFL game than they did the NFL or college football.
The USFL Playoffs begin this weekend. Canton, OH will host the league’s first championship game on July 3.
Sinclair has reached an agreement on a new rights deal with the New Orleans Pelicans. Bally Sports New Orleans will remain the team’s local TV partner.
The deal will also put the team on the new Bally Sports+ streaming service, which had a soft launch earlier this week. The service rolls out in full this fall.
“When we constructed this new agreement with Bally Sports New Orleans the main priority was distribution and the ability to deliver our games directly to our fans,” Dennis Lauscha, President of the New Orleans Pelicans, said in a press release. With the upcoming launch of Bally Sports+, Bally Sports’ direct-to-consumer platform, any Pelicans fan will be able to have access to Bally Sports New Orleans in the team’s local territory. This partnership allows us to continue to deliver unique, compelling Pelicans content across multiple platforms with the highest production quality. We are still working every option with Bally Sports New Orleans to improve the accessibility, ancillary content and distribution of Pelicans programming to all of our fans across Louisiana and the Gulf Coast region.”
Bally Sports New Orleans will carry around 75 regular season games per year. The network will also produce first round playoff and preseason games.
“The New Orleans Pelicans have been a great partner over the years and we look forward to building this relationship into the future,” added Steve Simpson, SVP and GM of Bally Sports New Orleans. “Our ability to deliver Pelicans content to as many local fans as possible, on both linear distribution channels and the all-new Bally Sports+ streaming product this fall, is incredibly exciting as we continue to grow the next generation of Pelicans fans.”
The Pelicans did look at new media partners before re-signing with Bally Sports New Orleans. Karen Brodkin, Executive Vice President of Endeavor, who the team hired to consult the process, noted that the existing relationship and the addition of a proprietary streaming platform for Sinclair made the difference.
