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Erin Andrews Cried When Troy Aikman Told Her He Was Leaving Fox

“I’m not gonna lie, I went out that night in Montana, and my husband and I went to our favorite bar and I consumed a lot of tequila,” Andrews said.

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Erin Andrews

Amidst a chaotic offseason for broadcasters, Fox made sure it showed Erin Andrews it wanted her to stay.

Andrews appeared on the latest Sports Illustrated Media Podcast and discussed how the frenzy effected her. She said that with the news about Joe Buck and Troy Aikman leaving for ESPN, she wanted to go ahead and commit to her bosses for three more years.

“I signed a contract. I quietly did that,” said Andrews. “I figured enough was enough with the headlines for a while. My deal was up in August. Fox came to me pretty much right away and just said, ‘We wanna keep you here.’ At that point I was unaware of who I was gonna be doing the games with.”

Andrews said in the podcast that even though she was kept in the dark about the new plans, Fox always communicated with her throughout the process.

“They were great about it. That’s one thing I do have to say regardless of what other opinions are out there. My bosses at Fox, Eric Shanks and Brad Zager, were very upfront with me. Even upfront with me when I would call and be like, ‘What’s going on? What’s happening? What’s the plan? I just want to know what the plan is.’ And they would just say, ‘Hang on, hang on. I promise you’re going to be happy, just hang on.’”

She was on vacation when she heard that Aikman was leaving the network to join ESPN.

“It was winter break. We were just done with the Super Bowl, done with everything. … I’m standing here, and my phone rang. And I just looked at [my husband] Jarret [Stoll] and I said, ‘This isn’t good.’ I’d said Troy’s going to Amazon, and he’s calling to tell me, so I put it on speaker,” Andrews said.

“We just started b.s.-ing, and I told him I was on my way to go work out and we were in Montana, we were going to go skiing later, blah, blah, blah,” she continued. “And he just got right into it and he’s like, ‘Hey, I’m going to ESPN.’ I just looked at Jarret and I didn’t speak for five minutes. I tried to talk, but I started to cry. I just couldn’t believe that was happening. I think all of us on our crew thought it was Amazon. I was just like, ‘Wait a second. What?’ My next reaction was, ‘Who are you doing the games with?’ I was just trying to put it all together.”

That night, Andrews, who admittedly drank “a lot” of tequila after her call with Aikman would suggest something that eventually did come to fruition.

“I’m not gonna lie, I went out that night in Montana, and my husband and I went to our favorite bar and I consumed a lot of tequila,” Andrews said. “I then apologized to my husband because this was supposed to be the vacation we didn’t talk on our phones, but everybody’s just calling each other from our crew, we’re calling our bosses at Fox, we’re just like, What the heck? 

At this point Tom was retired, I may or may not have put a text out there or a DM or whatever and just said, ‘Hey, what are you doing next year? You wanna be part of our crew?’ I just told him how fun it was and how great our crew was. I placed a call to one of my bosses at Fox and said, ‘Full disclosure, I’ve had a lot of tequila. Why not try to hit it out of the park here with Tom?’”

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Report: NFL to Put Christmas Day Doubleheader Up For Bids

Bidding is expected to start at $50 million among the current NFL media partners but some think the games could sell for $75 million to $100 million apiece.

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The NFL will reportedly put its Christmas Day games up for auction, allowing its current media partners to bid for the games. Now, it’s up to CBS, FOX, ESPN, NBC, and Prime Video to pay up for rights to one of these two marquee games.

According to Front Office Sports Michael McCarthy, preference will be given to linear networks, so Prime Video and Peacock may sit this one out. Bidding is expected to start at $50 million but McCarthy and his sources expect that number to rise. John Kosner, the former ESPN executive, thinks the new Christmas Day games could sell for $75 million to $100 million apiece.

The NFL announced a Wednesday Christmas Day doubleheader during its annual league meetings. The league originally said it wouldn’t force games on Christmas Day if the holiday fell on an odd day of the week, though as the NFL continues to put games on days outside of Sundays, Mondays, Thursdays, and sometimes Saturdays, we’re running out of days that don’t feature NFL football.

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Colorado Rockies & DirecTV Reach Agreement to Carry Games on TV

“Colorado sports fans have made DIRECTV the top destination for their favorite local teams. We will continue to work with MLB…so fans can get their games.”

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Breathe easy, Rockies fans — you will be able to watch your club on linear TV this year. At the buzzer, DirecTV and the Colorado Rockies agreed on terms to distribute the team’s games throughout its local service.

Starting today, DirecTV Choice subscribers across Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Southern Idaho, Western Nebraska, and Northern New Mexico can now watch the Rockies on a special channel simply titled, “ROCKIES.” The games will be available on DirecTV and DirecTV STREAM via channel 683.

“Colorado sports fans have made DIRECTV the top destination to get all their favorite local teams,” said Rob Thun, chief content officer of DIRECTV. “We will continue to work with MLB, the NBA, NHL, and other top leagues and their local franchises so the most avid fans can get the games they want while other customers have more choice over the content they want to pay to have in their homes.”

Reports just days ago out of Colorado said there were “no guarantees” the Rockies would not find a TV home in time for Opening Day following the sunsetting of AT&T SportsNet. The only other way to watch the team is to use its direct-to-consumer Rockies.tv streaming service, which fans say is too pricey for a team that lost 103 games last season. Luckily, the team was able to secure a TV home for 2024, though the future is still uncertain.

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Erin Andrews Reveals Infertility Journey in Emotional ‘Today Show’ Interview

FOX reporter Erin Andrews sat down with ‘The Today Show’s’ Kristen Welker to discuss her journey, how Welker’s own journey inspired her, and more.

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FOX reporter Erin Andrews shared her story of infertility and surrogacy with NBC’s Today Show. Last summer, Andrews and her husband welcomed a baby boy via surrogate after trying for a decade to get pregnant via IVF, during which she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2016. Today, she sat down with Kristen Welker to discuss her journey, how Welker’s own journey inspired her, and more.

Andrews says Welker’s announcement on the Today Show made her think a baby could be possible. “I remember Kristin Welker’s announcement on your show,” Andrews said last year, “and I actually watched that the morning Mac was born, because that just hit me.”

When they finally sat down, Welker asked Andrews why her journey resonated with the sports reporter so much:

“Because I see myself in you. Kristen, the video of you moderating debates after you’re waiting on bad news or maybe you just received it, that’s me. I can tell you every stand-up I’ve done at a football game where I’ve gotten the news that it didn’t work. I’d be talking about Tom Brady going for this record and my record is that I still was failing…I would have chest pains every time I was waiting for the call if it worked, and I knew it wouldn’t work.

Erin Andrews on ‘Today’

Andrews knew surrogacy was the only path to having a child. Although her family’s first attempt failed, her second attempt was a success, and she got to hear her child’s heartbeat for the very first time. The pair discuss the complex emotions that come with surrogacy, saying that bonds with their child could be affected because they didn’t carry their child. However, Welker assured Andrews that those feelings go away once you can talk to your child.

Once her son was born in June, who Andrews called, “a miracle,” she then talks about her child glowingly, talking about how he is just like mom — vocal. “He’s all me,” she says.

Andrews supports Baby Quest, a non-profit that grants money to families in need of IVF or surrogacy to have a baby but don’t have the funds to pursue these expensive treatments. Both Andrews and Welker acknowledged how difficult and unattainable their journies are for some families — and Andrews even used the NFL’s “My Cleats, My Cause” initiative to raise awareness for her cause.

“People don’t need to feel embarrassed that they have a surrogate or are looking for other help,” Andrews said.

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