Charissa Thompson leaving ESPN for Fox

[chapman]

Our new network gets even better.

http://www.awfulannouncing.com/2013/may/charissa-thompson-is-leaving-espn-for-fox.html

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

Ha, ESPN a "stepping stone" station now. I love it. About time they came crashing down to earth. Amazing what a little competition does.

[Golden Avalanche]

Ha, ESPN a "stepping stone" station now. I love it. About time they came crashing down to earth. Amazing what a little competition does.

Competition, maybe. Cash above all.

[MUfan12]

It will be interesting to see if Fox's Canadian imports will be able to compete with the late SportsCenter.

http://deadspin.com/jay-onrait-and-dan-otoole-are-coming-to-america-489561140

Personally, I can't wait to see what they come up with. SC has become so stale, it'll be nice to have some personalities.

[reinko]

Chicos, any talks about Fox Sports 1 picking up some NHL?

[frozena pizza]

Nobody brings the heat like Fox.  I love it.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

It will be interesting to see if Fox's Canadian imports will be able to compete with the late SportsCenter.

http://deadspin.com/jay-onrait-and-dan-otoole-are-coming-to-america-489561140

Personally, I can't wait to see what they come up with. SC has become so stale, it'll be nice to have some personalities.

Those guys are absolutely hilarious. So much better than any ESPN sportscaster. Just watch the TSN top 10s on youtube.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Chicos, any talks about Fox Sports 1 picking up some NHL?

I believe NBC has the exclusive national contract.  I'm not sure if an opportunity exists for a second national partner in their agreement or not.

[Skitch]

Ha, ESPN a "stepping stone" station now. I love it. About time they came crashing down to earth. Amazing what a little competition does.

ESPN has been a "stepping stone" for nearly 20 years.  It's no secret that they don't pay close to market for their talent.  Olbermann, Patrick, Kilbourn, Gammons, Eisen, Beadle, Andrews.  No one worth anything stays long. 

Those Guys Have All the Fun is a great read about the founding of and behind the scenes action of ESPN.

[ChicosBailBonds]

ESPN has been a "stepping stone" for nearly 20 years.  It's no secret that they don't pay close to market for their talent.  Olbermann, Patrick, Kilbourn, Gammons, Eisen, Beadle, Andrews.  No one worth anything stays long. 

Those Guys Have All the Fun is a great read about the founding of and behind the scenes action of ESPN.

They don't need to.  They are bigger than any of the talent....though some people love Chris Berman, etc, it doesn't surprise me they move on.  ESPN will always be bigger than any of the talent that they have which is fine. 

[jefffla01]

Agree espn is bigger than its individual parts.

They are selective when determing when to pony up the big salaries. They dont lose everybody that want to keep----see Scott Van Pelt, Dan Schulman, Dave Pasch, Mark Jones, Adam Schekter ect.......they have just signed multi year extensions and are all very solid.

They have fine depth with solid woman personalities Hannah Storm, Linda Cohn, Lindsay Czarniak, Suzy Kolber, Doris Burke ect..---all very good anchors
            
They choose a solid base on which to build, and if they lose talent they will rebuild like clockwork. They are such a large organization, that they decide when to pony up and when to move on

                                                                                                                    

                                                                                    

[mu03eng]

ESPN has been a "stepping stone" for nearly 20 years.  It's no secret that they don't pay close to market for their talent.  Olbermann, Patrick, Kilbourn, Gammons, Eisen, Beadle, Andrews.  No one worth anything stays long. 

Those Guys Have All the Fun is a great read about the founding of and behind the scenes action of ESPN.

The oral history of ESPN is also a great read.  ESPN hates the individuals having a "following" so they are likely fine with the exodus.  Now what will be interesting is they haven't had any real competition in years and the last 3 years they made some significant missteps that have annoyed/pissed people off to the point that they might switch to an inferior product should it become available.  So Fox Sports doesn't have to be better than ESPN they just have to better than the annoyance threshold.

If I'm ESPN I'm working proactively to stave this off because they have until August to sway the undecided.  Knowing ESPN though they will simply rely on their huge inventory of live sports content and it may get them in trouble this time.

[chapman]

though some people love Chris Berman

Teal?