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Jessica Mendoza Likely Out Of Sunday Night Booth

“Mendoza signed a multi-year contract extension with ESPN prior to the 2019 baseball season.”

Brandon Contes

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ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball crew hasn’t earned much praise in recent years and now the network might be ready for a change. According to Andrew Marchand of The New York Post, ESPN is “working toward removing Jessica Mendoza from its Sunday Night Baseball booth.”

Mendoza spent the last two seasons paired with Alex Rodriguez and play-by-play voice Matt Vasgersian on ESPN. She’s the longest tenured member of the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast, stepping into the booth during the 2015 season to replace Curt Schilling. 

Mendoza, who was hired by the New York Mets last year as an operations adviser, was recently blasted for criticizing pitcher Mike Fiers for his role in uncovering the Astros sign-stealing scandal.  At the time of Mendoza’s comments, the Mets were mulling what to do with their recently hired manager Carlos Beltran, who reportedly played a “key role” in helping the Astros cheat during the 2017 season. The situation highlighted what has been perceived by many to be a conflict of interest for Mendoza, working for both ESPN and the Mets. It should be noted The Post reported ESPN was considering removing Mendoza from Sunday Night Baseball prior to her comments about Fiers. 

According to Marchand, ESPN told Rodriguez he will return to Sunday Night Baseball for the 2020 season, but Vasgersian has not been given that same assurance. When ESPN lured A-Rod into the booth in 2018, he reportedly preferred Vasgersian as the broadcast’s play-by-play announcer, but that might not be enough for the network to keep Vasgersian on for a third season. 

Both A-Rod and Vasgersian are entering the final seasons of three-year contracts with ESPN, which could present a more enticing case to retain the play-by-play voice. Mendoza signed a multi-year contract extension with ESPN prior to the 2019 baseball season. If the network does indeed remove her from the Sunday Night Baseball broadcast, she will likely continue to have a prominent role with ESPN.

Brandon Contes is a freelance writer for BSM. He can be found on Twitter @BrandonContes. To reach him by email click here

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Final ‘Good Morning Football’ Episode from New York Studio Airs Before Hiatus, Move to LA

After today, ‘Good Morning Football’ will take a brief hiatus, then move to LA. But outside of host Jamie Erdahl, who else will join the show on the West Coast?

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Good Morning Football

Today marks the last Good Morning Football episode to air from its New York studios on NFL Network. After today, the show will take a brief hiatus, then move across the country to Los Angeles. But which of the shows beloved cast members will move along with it?

We already know host Jamie Erdahl will be there once she gives birth to her child. The newest GMFB show member gave an emotional send-off to the show’s New York studios before announcing she was headed for maternity leave and would see everyone in LA.

Host Kyle Brandt delivered this message late last night, saying that viewers should tune in to he and his colleagues and that “he has a lot to say.”

As the show ended today, Brandt said, “I am not saying goodbye to any of you…Candidly, I have a lot of questions myself. Here’s what I know: I personally will be intensely involved in Good Morning Football moving forward. And I want to spend the rest of my career with the NFL. And Good Morning Football is not ending, it is expanding. And it’s exciting because it’s a bigger show and it’s more show…It’s all in and it’s all happening and yes, we will be covering the draft. GMFB is leaving home for college…it’s time to evolve. And we are flattered that you are wondering and maybe worried about what’s coming next with the show…I am very proud of what we have built here…it has been a dream job and I know we are going to make a fantastic show from Los Angeles…I’ll see you this summer.”

Earlier this week host Peter Schrager delivered his own goodbye message — one that may sound like a man who’s not ready to move his family across the country at a moment’s notice:

However, no hosts outside of Erdahl have given confirmation that they’re either staying or going.

The NFL’s move to take the show from New York to Los Angeles has been widely criticized by fans and media members alike. Bill Simmons wondered if the move wouldn’t spell just the end of GMFB but the NFL Network as a whole. It has some wondering if this is the end of football’s best show.

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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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