Negotiations between Paul Finebaum and ESPN have heated up, but a powerful new team is bidding for the possible free agent's services: Fox Sports, and its affiliated Big Ten Network.
The college football provacateur's five-year contract with ESPN expires this month, said told Sporting News. After a long dry spell in which there have been almost no talks between the Finebaum — host of "The Paul Finebaum Show" on SEC Network — and ESPN management in Bristol, the two sides are close to agreeing on a new deal. "They're close -- but it's not over yet," a source said.
MORE: Paul Finebaum moving closer to free-agent status
Sources say new ESPN president Jimmy Pitaro has personally reached out to woo Finebaum. ESPN is the most powerful TV player in college football, and Finebaum's TV/radio simulcast and frequent appearances on "College GameDay," "SEC Nation" and "SportsCenter" have made him one of college football's top voices. Finebaum and his reps at CAA could not be reached for comment. ESPN declined to comment.
Meanwhile, sources said Finebaum is also drawing interest from Sinclair Broadcast Group, Cumulus Media and Sirius XM (which airs his show and almost hired him to program his own channel before he joined ESPN in 2013).
But Fox Sports has a history of poaching ESPN talent, like Colin Cowherd, Skip Bayless, Jason Whitlock and Erin Andrews. Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany is said to be a huge Finebaum fan.
Some Big Ten executives have lamented the absence of a "Paul Finebaum-like show" on the network's programming schedule. Fox owns 51 percent of the Big Ten Network.
In January, Fox Sports hired Mark Silverman, the longtime president of the Big Ten Network, to succeed Jamie Horowitz as president of national networks. Although he's relocating to Los Angeles from Chicago, according to SportsBusiness Daily, Silverman continues to oversee the Big Ten Network.
Fox will televise 136 college football games this season, featuring the Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12 conferences. Big games include the Red River Showdown between Texas and Oklahoma, "The Game," between Michigan vs. Ohio State, USC vs. Texas, plus the Big Ten and Pac-12 championship games.
"Fox College Football televises some of the most meaningful games of the season, and we’re already looking forward to the first snap," said Fox executive producer John Entz when the schedule was announced.
The down-to-the-wire negotiations between Finebaum and ESPN are due to several factors, sources say.
Before his sudden resignation in December, ESPN president John Skipper promised to finalize a contract extension with Finebaum well in advance of July 2018. But Skipper's departure put many major decisions on hold as George Bodenheimer returned for three months to steady the ship, before Disney boss Bob Iger promoted Pitaro.
Then in January, "Monday Night Football" analyst Jon Gruden decided to return to coaching in the NFL with the Raiders. ESPN decided to completely revamp the MNF booth, shifting play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough back to college football, auditioning dozens of analysts and announcers and finally naming Cowboys tight end Jason Witten and announcer Joe Tessitore the new MNF booth team, along with field analyst Booger McFarland and sideline reporter Lisa Salters.
Meanwhile, Pitaro spent much of his first few months on the job trying to repair ESPN's fractured relationship with the NFL. He has met repeatedly with league executives and owners. By most accounts, ESPN's NFL relationship is on the upswing.
"Our relationship with the NFL is incredibly important to us," said Pitaro after ESPN's "upfront" presentation to advertisers in May. "I know many of the executives at the NFL for many, many years. I spent a lot of time with them over the last two-plus months. We’re excited about our partnership with that league."
The new ESPN management troika of Pitaro, Oscar-winning content czar Connor Schell and studio/event production chief Norby Williamson may also be flexing their muscles with on-air talent, waiting till the last minute to sign deals. Richard Deitsch of The Athletic told the story of "SportsCenter" anchor Adnan Virk, whose four-year deal was set to expire April 30, 2018.
Only 14 months ago, ESPN laid off 100 front-facing talents, including Jayson Stark, Britt McHenry and Danny Kanell. An anxious Virk thought he was a goner — until he got an offer a week before his contract was to expire. Finally, less than six hours before his contract expired at midnight on April 30, his CAA agent called to report a verbal agreement.
Everyone is replaceable, noted Virk to The Athletic. "It does become a mind game because we are all aware of the talented people who have left the company. If this company can say goodbye to Jayson Stark, Danny Kanell, Andy Katz, certainly Adnan Virk is expendable," he said.
ESPN recently locked up another big possible free agent — Dan Le Batard — before his deal expired this summer. Last minute negotiations that go right to the wire, "look like the new normal at ESPN," said one source.