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In all appearances, Jason Witten has just fantasized ESPN in favor of a return to Dallas Cowboys.
There is no official statement coordinated by ESPN about Witten tied with the Cowboys announcement. He'll be out later, I'm told. This would indicate that ESPN has not been aware of it for a long time.
– Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) February 28, 2019
(This brief statement has finally been published)
Witten The new agreement with the Cowboys would be a one-year deal worth $ 3.5 million. His previous contract with ESPN was $ 4.5 million a year, or several years. Without any arithmetical difficulty, it is clear that Witten has given up the money and the security to resume a physically demanding sport where the risk of serious injury is considerable, and not return to one of the highest paying positions. and the most prominent in all sports media.
If the passion for football has certainly played a central role here, the reality is that it is not hard to imagine that Witten is giving up a return to the Cowboys if:
a) The Cowboys did not experience their second half thrust and his return no longer includes the glow of a Super Bowl race.
b) He was not relentlessly criticized for his work at the booth in his first season.
After covering the difficult first year of Witten (his regular season debut here, a mid-season analysis here), one thing that really surprised me is just the attention and harsh criticism of the new team of the MNF, with Witten at the center of the concerns. of this reaction. Both articles were followed by a significant spike of radio releases on the subject. While the staff of this site lives in a sports-centric social media bubble, it was clear that Witten's struggles had become one of the few sports media reports that most mainstream fans talked about. And they talked about it MUCH.
Each match offered new opportunities to exhaust difficult or strange moments for Witten. To be fair, it is likely that if he made his debut by calling Fox regional games in the middle of the road or college matches of CBS, he would hardly realize his difficulties. But considering the big scene of Monday night footballWitten's struggles were shattered by the vultures of social media struggling to find his place as a broadcaster.
Found the clip. Witten calls the brutal change of the "left wing" smuggler rule pic.twitter.com/htLzeRcm79
– Conor Orr ?? (@ConorOrr) September 25, 2018
ESPN was steadfast in supporting Witten and the rest of the stand for a second season. Of course, it would have been interesting to see a full season of Booger McFarland in the cabin, as opposed to his boom in the universal crane in which he was stuck. That said, as much as ESPN believed in Witten and this facility, I am confident that it would not have been enough.
The reality is that Witten was just not smooth, natural or good enough to play games on such a big stage and it is unlikely that anything will change that. The NFL fans were not going to warm him up and that was another year of identical criticism for him and the company.
ESPN would certainly have stayed in their defensive trench saying, "He's getting better! Give him time! It works! But there was no way around it … that was not the case. Witten would have certainly hated that a second year was the focus of such criticism and disappointment, so he did the best thing for himself and for the others by withdrawing.
Going out of the blue is the most exciting I am on someone since Matt Damon in Goodwill hunting.
Aaron Rodgers shot a rabbit from his head (?), According to Jason Witten pic.twitter.com/R5OviR3l6G
– Andrew Joseph (@ AndyJ0seph) October 16, 2018
It is not only that his return would have been painful for all parties, it is also the extent of this pain.
Monday night football This is ESPN's most watched and sought-after asset outside the playoffs of the three college football games, which represent only 11 hours of programming per year. Witten would have been ESPN's most prominent, discussed and dissected personality and would have lasted 17 weeks (not counting the pre-season). His weaknesses in broadcasting were not a tattoo. ESPN had a whim that could be covered with long sleeves or pants, but was rather a face tattoo that for some reason was considered by the network as a good idea. They thought people would eventually prepare for it.
Not likely.
My colleague Andrew Bucholtz has discussed at length a number of options that ESPN might consider to replace Witten. There are many questions to consider here, including:
What does ESPN do with Booger? Many seem to think that means that he will be on the hot seat again. Would that mean the end of Booger Mobile? I think his most natural solution would be to replace Lee Corso on Gameday College and maybe call university games on weekdays. Putting aside my personal preferences, it's hard to ignore the fans were MUCH more warm-hearted for Booger than for Witten.
This question generates more questions. Do you want a booth for three or two? Can Booger succeed in a booth for two? Traditionally, NFL games televised on national television had at least one analyst with offensive experience. The comments on the call and the game of quarter are more natural for former players and offensive coaches. McFarland was a defensive player and obviously understood the other side of the ball. Would ESPN be comfortable with the fact that these key areas of comment could be underserved?
Would ESPN prefer to go with someone who has experience calling NFL games to find out what he's up to? Some have wondered if Kirk Herbstreit might be pushed to leave the university games, which seems unlikely. ESPN would be hot with Greg Olsen, of Carolina, who would be another wildcard quite different from Witten. Louis Riddick is another name for which fans are actively campaigning.
Would ESPN choose to leave with someone who has already called NFL games, but who has already been ignored? Kurt Warner is the name that appears most often here, but ESPN could certainly choose other options.
My first choice is Peyton Manning. The network is already collaborating with Manning on his ESPN + show, but many remain skeptical about his interest in a career in the media. His long-term ambitions would be centered on team ownership and making stupid advertisements that your parents consider fun.
The reality of the situation is that ESPN has bluntly messed up this over the last year and, like a big fool in a sauna, it has not gone unnoticed. The stench is not gone.
To complicate the situation, things on the NFL side have been difficult for ESPN for some time. The NFL has siphoned off many fans thirsty for football content. On the studio side, there has been a lot of criticism about employee turnover, with the high-profile departures of Tom Jackson, Charles Woodson, Trent Dilfer and Chris Berman (who's back, back, back … kind of … in a more limited role). At the same time, ESPN was already making game-by-game changes when Sean McDonough did not replace Mike Tirico. Similar to the studio problems, it was a fairly light and less controversial transgression, but ESPN did not find much stability or internal consensus.
Witten's very controversial year on the stand, as well as his unplanned start, will only draw more unwanted attention to what is preparing for next season's broadcast. As ESPN has pointed out, they want better NFL games, more games in general, and even a Super Bowl (which probably depends on ABC and game streaming). Another highly publicized misstep would certainly dig deeper into public relations for a network that is still struggling to counter persistent negative publicity related to alleged political trends, the future of the network in a less cable-dependent ecosystem and accusations. strong coverage preferences favoring certain sports and conferences.
Frankly, ESPN can not afford to spend another year in which its most popular programming asset will be ridiculed by another misguided hiring decision. As respected as ESPN's leaders would be, it would be difficult for the network to remain idle, to suffer a new downfall when, as Witten says, "continues to slap in the foot like this".
An error here is probably not serious enough to bring down Disney's stock, but it would also be bad enough to hurt the image of the network during a period that has already been a difficult task for society. With regard to the largest and most popular media entity in American sport, ESPN simply does not have enough credibility to rely on to overcome a tsunami of criticism caused by another failed decision.
If I had to guess, I think you'll see ESPN turn to a conservative and known hiring company rather than trying to catch the magic of Tony Romo-esque in a bottle. Or we can see them trying to fight once again for the barriers, hoping they'll make contact this time.
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