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Ryan Leaf Joins ESPN

“Leaf will be paired with play-by-play man Clay Matvick. He expects to call games all over the country. The duo will mostly be seen on ESPN2 and ESPNU.”

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The name Ryan Leaf may be synonymous with struggle for NFL fans, but college football fans remember the former Washington State Cougar as one of the most gifted quarterbacks to ever play in the Pac 12. Life certainly has not been easy for the second overall pick of the 1998 NFL Draft since leaving Pullman, but he seems to have turned things around and that is enough for ESPN to put their faith in him. Leaf will serve as a game analyst for college football on the World Wide Leader this season.

Leaf will be paired with play-by-play man Clay Matvick. He expects to call games all over the country. The duo will mostly be seen on ESPN2 and ESPNU.

2019 won’t be Leaf’s first season in a broadcast booth. He worked for the Pac 12 Network last season. He has also been co-hosting the morning show on Sirius XM’s Pac 12 Radio.

Ryan Leaf was arrested in 2012 in Montana. He had broken into a home with the intention of stealing prescription drugs. The charge violated terms of his probation in Texas. As a result the former QB spent two years in prison.

Upon his release in 2014, Leaf considered going to law school, a career in entertainment, or pursuing his dreams of becoming a sportscaster.

“I had a broadcast journalism degree from the Murrow School at Washington State so I had the ability to do it. Or at least the know-how,” Leaf said in an interview with the Associated Press. “I just didn’t know what I was going to do.”

Leaf credits a lot of people with helping him achieve his goal. He told the AP that Fox’s Jay Glazer served as his mentor, Sirius XM’s Steve Cohen built a show around him, and ESPN’s ED Placey helped get him on the right radars. Leaf landed an audition for ESPN after shadowing Greg McElroy in Los Angeles last season.

“Ryan has experienced the highs and lows in the game of football, putting him in a position to relate to a wide range of situations players can find themselves in,” ESPN’s vice president of production, Lee Fitting told the AP. “He will be able to rely on those experiences — including an unbelievable college career where he was an All-American and Heisman Trophy finalist — in his analysis, making him a tremendous asset for our team.”

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ESPN Coverage of Men’s NIT Tournament Quarterfinals Up 33% vs. 2023

Viewership of the Men’s NIT Quarterfinals on ESPN were up 33 percent compared to last year and featured two games that averaged over one million viewers.

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Even the NIT is riding the recent hot streak of live sports viewership numbers. According to data provided by ESPN, the 2024 NIT Quarterfinals are up 33 percent compared to last year’s tournament. Perhaps more surprisingly, two NIT quarterfinal games topped one million viewers.

The network’s Georgia/Ohio State matchup averaged 1.03 million viewers, while the Cincinnati/Indiana State contest averaged 1.02 million viewers. These two games were the most-watched NIT games since 2017 — including title games. Both Georgia and Ohio State have rabid fanbases, while many thought Indiana State was unjustly left out of the March Madness tournament, which could be a reason why viewers tuned in.

Much of the focus this season has been on the women’s game, thanks to Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and the undefeated South Carolina Gamecocks, led by Dawn Staley. ESPN just had its most-watched women’s college basketball season since 2008-09 because of the increased interest in the women’s game. The men’s game, however, hasn’t been heralded as much this season for whatever reason, mostly because numbers seem to be holding steady compared to previous years. However, if the NIT is posting viewership wins, that should bode well for the NCAA Tournament’s incoming viewership totals.

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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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Colorado Rockies

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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