Perhaps one of the many underrated knock-on effects of the ESPN-NFL deal getting approved in time for next season will have to do with who ends up calling the games.
As part of the deal, ESPN will take ownership of NFL Network and its seven annual regular-season games. Those games largely comprise of the league’s International Series, which generally air on Sunday mornings in the United States, and select Saturday games late in the season. Also as part of the deal, ESPN agreed to cede its four annual Monday Night Football doubleheaders back to the NFL, doing away with the rather unpopular experiment and giving the league a four-pack of games to sell to another broadcast partner.
The new setup begs the question: Who exactly will call these NFL Network games?
When the league owned NFL Network, Rich Eisen and Kurt Warner would handle broadcasting duties for the majority of the games it aired. But with Monday Night Football doubleheaders going away, ESPN’s No. 2 team of Chris Fowler, Dan Orlovsky, and Louis Riddick do not have any clear inventory left to call. Without overlapping games, there’s not a package left for the No. 2 team to call, other than in rare circumstances where ESPN might be scheduled for two games in one weekend.
As such, it’s safe to say there’s a cold war brewing between the two broadcast teams. How will ESPN choose to divvy up its inventory? Will the network favor its own team, or the incumbents at NFL Network?
One thing that may factor into the decision is talent contracts. It is quite possible that someone like Rich Eisen or Dan Orlovsky has a set minimum number of NFL games they get to broadcast in a given season. If that’s the case, will there be enough inventory to go around in order to fulfill contractual obligations?
No doubt, the back-channeling from agents has already begun. No one wants to be left without a seat in this game of musical chairs.
Eisen, in addition to his weekday radio program Sunday morning pregame show NFL GameDay Morning, clearly has a desire to call a handful of games each year. Warner, who similarly contributes primarily as a studio analyst, seems to enjoy game reps as well. Fowler calls plenty of college football, as does Riddick, so maybe the potential of losing some NFL assignments isn’t quite as bad for those two. Orlovsky, on the other hand, would seem to be the most impacted by any loss of game experience, as he’s expressed a desire to replace Troy Aikman in ESPN’s top booth whenever the former Dallas Cowboy calls it quits.
Perhaps the most likely scenario is that ESPN decides to split the NFL Network games between the Fowler-Orlovsky-Riddick team and the Eisen-Warner team. Both crews would likely be calling fewer games than before, but they’d still be getting some run.
Ultimately, ESPN has quite a bit of time to decide. The NFL won’t release its television schedule until mid-May. At that point, ESPN will assess which weekends it’ll need to utilize multiple broadcast teams.
About Drew Lerner
Drew Lerner is a staff writer for Awful Announcing and an aspiring cable subscriber. He previously covered sports media for Sports Media Watch. Future beat writer for the Oasis reunion tour.