Jason Kelce is joining ESPN, and a former ESPN voice sees the move as another sign of the changing times of the Worldwide Leader in Sports.
Dan Le Batard, the former ESPN host of several shows including “Highly Questionable,” praised the ESPN’s signing of Kelce to join its “Monday Night Football” studio show, in a report by The Athletic on Monday, August 29.
Speaking on “The Dan Le Batard Show,” Le Batard added that the rise of Kelce, which is in part due to this association with Taylor Swift through his brother, is unprecedented considering his role on the football field.
“This is a fascinating thing to watch in the media age when the athletes come for all of the great jobs and have their own brands, Jason Kelce has turned himself into what’s going to be the most powerful offensive line voice there’s been since John Madden,” Le Batard said. “You don’t get to be famous as an offensive lineman … great job for him, great job for ESPN.”
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Kelce, who hosts the popular podcast “New Heights” alongside his brother Travis, was reportedly being courted by a number of other networks including CBS, NBC, and Amazon. No financial details have been reported about Kelce’s deal, and Le Batard is curious to find out how those negotiations went.
“I would love to know the bidding war that ESPN just won on Jason Kelce,” Le Batard said.
The changing sports media landscape has been a common topic for Le Batard on his show, particularly how former athletes like Pat McAfee and Shannon Sharpe are building their brands elsewhere before latching with ESPN. The media giant is also evolving it’s treatment of these massive names, allowing them to continue with other endeavors while still working under ESPN.
Le Batard thinks that a lot of these athletes-turned-media-personalities are choosing ESPN in part because they know that ESPN actually needs them now because of their pull. The prime example is McAfee licensing his show to the network last year despite already having an established audience outside of ESPN.
“This is the McAfee trade, man — he left FanDuel for less money but this: It’s deals with [Bob] Iger; It’s not even [Jimmy] Pitaro,” Le Batard said.
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McAfee left a large deal with FanDuel TV that reportedly paid him over $20 million per year for one with ESPN at a reported $17 million annually. But Le Batard believes that the advantage of becoming a huge asset to the big boss at Disney (DIS) , ESPN’s parent company that is trying to revitalize itself under the second term of Iger, is beneficial to these personalities.
“The athletes have gotten to Iger, and Disney is in a crucial business time,” Le Batard said. “All of this is fascinating because it’s a new game. and Jason Kelce gets to play at the very top of it. He walks in through the front door and gets one of the best jobs and it would have been the job of his choosing because Amazon would have wanted him, everyone wants football.”
ESPN has had a busy football offseason. The company signed former Alabama head coach Nick Saban as an analyst for College GameDay, while it also looks like it’ll have a lot more of former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick via his participation on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
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