The Big Ten Conference is in the midst of the first year of a new seven-year media rights deal with Paramount Global, Comcast and FOX Corporation, marking the first time the conference has been away from The Walt Disney Company (ABC/ESPN) since the 1960s. This new landmark agreement centers around football and basketball contests, the provisions of which are outlined in the contract itself. As a result, Robbie Hummel, one of the conference’s predominant analysts, is leaving the “Worldwide Leader” to join NBC and FOX to continue calling the contests. News of the move first reported by Andrew Marchand of the New York Post on Monday morning.

The former Purdue basketball star began his journey in broadcasting at the Sportscaster U camp at Syracuse University, a program that was offered to National Basketball Association players and taught by Orangemen commentator Matt Park. Hummel moved to the Big Ten Network to contribute to studio coverage as he was attempting a professional comeback, and his work quickly got noticed by a broadcast agent.

Once his playing days were officially over, he and his agent worked out a deal for him to join the Big Ten Network and ESPN performing color commentary and studio analysis. Additionally, he started calling games on Westwood One Radio and helped document historic moments, including a game-winning shot by David Jean-Baptiste to send the Chattanooga Mocs to the NCAA tournament.

Making a move to NBC and FOX could be a precursor for Hummel to call NBA games should either network secure part of the media rights package, which expires at the conclusion of the 2024-25 season. Hummel told Barrett Sports Media earlier this year that he would be interested in pairing his college work with more chances at the NBA level.

Despite the move, Hummel will remain on the Big Ten Network since its majority ownership stake is held by FOX Corporation. Yet he will also call college basketball for FOX and its dedicated sports network, FOX Sports 1, along with weekday games on NBCUniversal’s direct-to-consumer streaming service, Peacock. The platform will broadcast up to 47 regular-season men’s contests games and 30 regular-season women’s basketball games, a combination of conference and non-conference matchups.

The Deion Sanders-coached Colorado Buffaloes got another taste of top-ranked college football on Saturday and were humbled in a 42-6 blowout loss.

To some, including SiriusXM College Sports Radio host Danny Kanell, seeing Sanders, his sons and their team embarrassed on a national platform was good because it will quell some of the buzz around the program as a potential national power on the rise. There has been much hype and fanfare surrounding the program in Boulder since hiring Sanders as their head coach in the spring.

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning went viral ahead of the Ducks game, telling his team in their locker room pre-game that Sanders and the Buffaloes were out trying to get clicks while the Ducks were trying to get wins.

ESPN’s Robert Griffin III on Saturday evening tweeted that Lanning was just trying to do his job in the moment, which was hype his kids up to play a high-profile game and folks were eating it up. He wondered why Sanders was getting hate for essentially doing the same thing.

Kanell quote tweeted RGIII saying ESPN had grown an affinity for Sanders, and people loved what they saw from Oregon because they were tired of so much coverage of Colorado.

Griffin laid out some recent facts about the Buffs since Sanders arrived and chalked the former ESPN Radio host up as a hater.

Danny responded asking why Griffin hadn’t jumped on the bandwagons of other turnaround programs like Tulane, Duke and Kansas, before RGII posted a screenshot from 2021 of him showing support for the direction head coach Lance Leipold was taking the Jayhawks. Griffin mentioned the fact that he was on the broadcast of Tulane’s upset win over USC in the Cotton Bowl in January and that he has given his stance on Duke.

The back and forth continued into Sunday, where Kanell posted some screenshots of his own tweets where he has not been overly critical or hating on Sanders.

But Griffin appeared to get the final word, posting a clip of Kanell throwing an interception on Monday Night Football back in the day when he was quarterback of the New York Giants.

With the remnants of Tropical Storm Ophelia bearing down on New York City and a wave of buzz surrounding Barstool founder Dave Portnoy in the days leading in, some 5,000 people braved the elements to attend the One Bite Pizza Festival in Brooklyn on Saturday.

Portnoy went viral last week after he posted video of himself calling Washington Post food reporter Emily Heil to confront her and ask why she and the pave had been contacting festival sponsors and asking them how they feel about Portnoy’s past controversies.

Participating pizzerias and sponsors also faced pressure to back out from other food writers and Barstool critics. But Portnoy told FOX & Friends Weekend on Sunday that the festival was a rousing success.

“It couldn’t have gone better,” he said. “It was our Woodstock moment with the rain. We had 5,000 people strong. Everyone had a great time. The vibes were actually probably higher because of the controversy surrounding it.”

Dave added that he owed the pizzerias a debt of gratitude for standing strong against those trying to shame them out of the event.

“The thing about the hit pieces, what they try to do, whether it’s those or the Washington Post, if you can get one sponsor to drop, one pizza place to drop – which none of them did so I owe them a huge thank you – that becomes a story in itself,” he said.

“They don’t deserve this,” Portnoy added. “They’re just trying to promote their small business, and they’re being put in this box.”