ESPN may be turning to the “Jeopardy!” model in order to find a new host for “First Take.”
In the wake of Molly Qerim’s departure from the network, ESPN is planning to try out a variety of people over the next 30 to 45 days in order to potentially become the next host of “First Take.” ESPN president of content Burke Magnus made that revelation in an interview this week with Richard Deitsch of The Athletic.
“I don’t know if it’ll be someone in-house or not,” Magnus told Deitsch. “We’re not locked into anything in particular. The one thing that was unexpected was the timing of all this. She [Qerim] put out a statement because there was a report on it, so it kind of got out of our respective controls once that happened.
“While we knew we were going to make a change — her deal ran through the end of the year — we were more focused on that timeline,” added Magnus. “So we’re going to take probably about 30 to 45 days to try a variety of in-house people because we can do that on the show. Then we’ll make a decision shortly after that.”
You can read Magnus’ full interview here.
Qerim, 41, had been at ESPN since 2008 and had become a staple of “First Take” as its full-time host ever since 2015. However, news broke earlier this week that Qerim was planning to leave the network.
Reports at the time stated that Qerim would be remaining with ESPN through the expiration of her contract at the end of 2025. But instead, she resigned abruptly upon the news coming out (with Stephen A. Smith delivering an emotional on-air farewell to her the next morning).
A 30-to-45 day timeline would put ESPN right around the start of both the NBA regular season and the MLB World Series (in addition to both the NFL and college football seasons being in full swing). They will take their time to make the right decision on Qerim’s successor as host of “First Take,” especially given the suddenness of her exit.
