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Schaap Signs Extension At ESPN

Jason Barrett

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Award-winning senior news correspondent Jeremy Schaap, one of ESPN’s most distinguished and versatile commentators, has reached a new long-term extension to remain with the company, it was announced by John Wildhack, ESPN executive vice president, production and programming. Schaap is currently reporting from the Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles.

Schaap, who joined ESPN full-time in 1994, will continue to serve as a correspondent for ESPN’s award-winning, prime-time newsmagazine E:60. A new one-hour branded show titled E:60Reports with Jeremy Schaap debuted this May with an investigation of Sepp Blatter and FIFA. Two weeks later, the U.S. Justice Department announced that it had indicted more than a dozen soccer executives and several of FIFA’s highest-ranking officials were arrested in Switzerland. On June 2, Blatter held a press conference to announce that he would be stepping down.

In addition, Schaap will continue to host ESPN Radio’s The Sporting Life and contribute to Outside the Lines, SportsCenter, NFL Countdown and College GameDay, among other ESPN platforms. He will also continue to cover select live events, including the FIFA World Cup, and to lead ESPN’s coverage at the Olympics.

“ESPN has been my home for more than 20 years,” said Schaap, “and before that my father Dick Schaap did so much remarkable work here. I couldn’t be more pleased to know that my colleagues – so many of whom are like family – are stuck with me for many more years.

“At ESPN, I have been afforded the opportunity to develop as a journalist and a broadcaster and it’s my hope that I will continue to do so. I have been privileged to work somewhere that cares about reporting, storytelling and fairness, where tremendous resources are dedicated to the important pursuit of journalism.”

He added: “At ESPN, and in particular for the last eight years at E:60, I have been encouraged to pursue stories that transcend sports, that sometimes are only tangentially about sports, but that speak to larger issues. I will continue to seek out those kinds of stories, working with the best producers, editors and camera crews on the planet—and that’s all anyone in this business can ask for.”

Wildhack said, “Jeremy is a trusted and respected voice in our industry and with fans.  His commitment to journalistic excellence as a reporter and storyteller is unparalleled, and we are thrilled to have him continue to play such an integral role across many ESPN platforms, including his outstanding award-winning work on E:60.”

Schaap has won nine national Sports Emmy Awards and many other honors for his work, including two national Edward R. Murrow Awards, in 2012 and 2014, and a National Headliner Award, in 2007.

This year, Schaap was awarded the prestigious Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for human rights reporting–a first for ESPN–for his E:60 investigation, “Qatar’s World Cup,” which shined a light on the deplorable living and working conditions for foreign laborers in Qatar. Last week, in another first for ESPN, he was nominated for a national News and Documentary Emmy Award, for an E:60 story about a survivor of domestic violence.

Schaap’s father Dick Schaap began working at ESPN in 1988 hosting The Sports Reporters, and in later years he also hosted Schaap One on One and, with Jeremy, The Sporting Life. He worked at ESPN until his passing in 2001.

Credit to ESPN Media Zone who originally published this article

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Sports TV News

CBS Sports Host James Brown To Receive Lifetime Achievement Award at Sports Emmys

“I am incredibly humbled by this award. I know full well that it’s not as much about me as it is about all the people with whom…I worked over all these years.”

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James Brown
Courtesy: Mary Kouw, CBS

Longtime CBS Sports host James Brown will be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 45th Sports Emmys. The awards show announced the news via its X account last night:

Brown is a three-time Sports Emmy winner for his work on CBS’ The NFL Today and previously FOX’s The NFL On FOX, and HBO’s Inside the NFL. Brown’s career spans more than 30 years and includes numerous accolades such as the Pete Rozelle Award from the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Uncommon Award from Tony Dungy.

He was named “Best Studio Host of the Decade” by Sports Illustrated in 2010 and was honored with the 2009 Dick Schaap Memorial Award for Media Excellence. In 1998 he was awarded the Golden Mic Award by the Black Broadcasters Alliance. Brown was elected into the Sports Broadcasting Hall of Fame in 2021.

“I am incredibly humbled by this award,” Brown said via the Sports Emmys. “I know full well that it’s not as much about me as it is about all the people with whom and for whom I worked over all these years. Thank God for the blessing!”

Sports media came together to honor Brown’s achievement:

Brown and other award recipients will be honored at the Sports Emmys award ceremony in May.

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John Anderson Announces Retirement from SportsCenter on ESPN

“I don’t really know what’s quite next, I have some things in the fire. But SportsCenter will not be it.”

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Photo of John Anderson
Credit: Mediaite

Longtime SportsCenter anchor John Anderson has announced that when his contract comes up at the end of June, he will no longer be doing SportsCenter for ESPN. Anderson, who joined ESPN in 1999 does plan to continue covering certain events, but after 25 years he believes it is time to stop doing ESPN’s flagship show. Anderson spoke on his podcast, The Inside Wisconsin Show and prior to the episode’s release tomorrow, a clip was released:

“My contract runs out at ESPN at the end of June,” Anderson said. “I have decided that that will be the end. I’m going to leave the company. I’m going to sort of retire from ‘SportsCenter.’ I’m going to get to do a few track-and-field things, I’m going to get to continue to do the Boston Marathon and the New York Marathon – which I love – and some NCAA track meets and some SEC stuff.

“I am incredibly excited about that. It’s been a good run…I feel like it’s been a good run. The operation has changed. I don’t know that it’s passed me by, but it’s taken its toll and I still want to be able to do the best shows that I can, and I don’t know that if in years 26 or 27 I have the stamina to do it again.  

“So, I’m done…I don’t really know what’s quite next. I have some things in the fire. But SportsCenter will not be it.”

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Chris ‘Mad Dog’ Russo: NFL Streaming Games ‘Gets Obscene’

“They’ve got a Wild Card game on Amazon Prime Video, which means you can’t switch with the remotes.”

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Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo
Courtesy: Cindy Ord, Getty Images for SiriusXM

The National Football League has announced that the Philadelphia Eagles opening matchup taking place from San Paolo, Brazil against an opponent to be determined for the 2024 season will stream exclusively on Peacock. Even though the game will be exclusive to Peacock – thus requiring fans to subscribe in order to watch – it will also be broadcast on an over-the-air network in the local markets of the teams involved in the game. Christopher ‘Mad Dog’ Russo is not a fan of this decision by the league.

During his “What Are You Mad About?” segment on Wednesday morning’s edition of First Take on ESPN, Russo expressed his indignation towards the game being exclusively streamed by Peacock. Within his discourse, he presented a hypothetical scenario of an Eagles fan who continues to spend money to see the team at Lincoln Financial Field and how they would not fly down to Brazil to see the game. Russo continued by saying that the fan would then miss the game without having Peacock so the NFL is able to drive more revenue.

“It’s hard to get Peacock; I don’t want to get Peacock, alright?,” Russo said. “I want to watch the game normal. Give me [Joe] Buck and [Troy] Aikman, give me the CBS crew, [Tom] Brady’s going to do it. Give me something! Don’t put the Eagles 9,000 miles away and then put them on a cable thing on Peacock which you’ve got to subscribe to so NBC can make more money.”

NBC Sports will broadcast an opening night game during Week 1 on Thursday, Sept. 5, along with a Sunday Night Football contest on Sunday, Sept. 8. Within its stretch of primetime football matchups, which also includes a Saturday night Big Ten Conference game, the Friday night NFL game seems to be the only one exclusive to Peacock. The streaming platform is coming off a strong performance for its exclusive Wild Card round playoff matchup, drawing an average of 23 million viewers and becoming the most-streamed NFL game in history.

This past season of Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime Video garnered a 24% increase in viewers compared to its first season, according to data from Nielsen Media Research. These metrics demonstrate that the broadcast property averaged 11.86 million viewers per game during the 2023 NFL season. The OTT streaming platform also presented the inaugural NFL game on Black Friday, which averaged 9.61 million viewers.

Prime Video will reportedly have the exclusive rights to an NFL playoff game next season, and it has continued building out its sports content vertical. The company has reportedly been exploring a potential media rights deal with the National Basketball Association as its national television contract is nearing expiration. The Walt Disney Company and Warner Bros. Discovery are currently in the midst of exclusive negotiating windows with the NBA that conclude on Monday, April 22, after which Amazon will be able to bid.

“They’ve got a Wild Card game on Amazon Prime Video, which means you can’t switch with the remotes,” Russo said, referring to the reported agreement for next season. “I know the NFL prints money – I understand how big they are, but boy this gets obscene.”

“One-hundred percent right,” First Take host Molly Qerim added. “I cannot stand having 8,000 different apps. It needs to be streamlined. It’s annoying – you have to remember all these passwords. I don’t have Peacock; I don’t want Peacock. I completely agree with you.”

ESPN NBA analyst Tim Legler proceeded to convey the dedication of Eagles fans in showing up to the stadium and watching their team. Russo agreed with him that Eagles fans will travel down to Brazil since they pack stadiums and fervently support their team. Off of that point, ESPN NFL reporter Kimberley A. Martin explained that she believes the devotion and zeal from the fanbase is part of the reason why this is a shrewd decision by the NFL.

“This is genius,” Martin said. “You do put the Eagles – that type of team – because they’re going to buy it.”

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