Much ado has been made about Chris Berman’s future at ESPN lately, and it sounds like a sort of compromise between the two parties could be on the horizon.
The talk about Berman’s future stemmed from a report last week saying the longtime anchor would be retiring after his contract with the network expired after next year. Berman’s agent strongly refuted the story and said the host/anchor had no plans to retire. Now some fresh speculation suggests Berman may end up in an emeritus-type role at ESPN where he makes some token appearances on the network as he ages.
Jim Miller, author of the famous ESPN book “Those Guys Have all the Fun,” joined “The Dan Patrick Show” Tuesday and talked about Berman’s situation.
“I think it’s clear that he is going to be changing roles,” Miller said. “There’s no doubt about it. He’s going to ride out this football season. His contract is up sometime later this year … and it’s time. It seems like we’ve been talking about Berman’s future since the dawn of man. And I think we’re finally at the point where it’s going to be reconfigured.
“I think he’s too big of a personality in ESPN history for them to just vote him off the island and hit the delete key. And I don’t think that’s his wishes anyway, so I think they’re going to probably try and carve out an emeritus role with a variety of functions around that.”
Patrick then asked Miller if he thinks Berman would be OK with a reduced role.
“Sometimes he looks like he’s tired, and sometimes he looks like he could do it for another 10 years. And there are people inside Bristol who think it’s time for him to go, and there are people who want him to stay.
“That’s why I think if they give him like the Home Run Derby, they give him a role at the NFL Draft, he can maybe tape a special segment on Sundays for football season a year from now … they can keep him a part of the landscape but not totally remove him. I think that might be the sweetspot.”
Berman is 61 and has been with ESPN since 1979, a month after the network launched.
