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Last month it was reported that, following months of rumors and speculation, Michelle Beadle’s broadcasting career with ESPN was coming to an end. Again.
The 43-year-old Beadle, who has several years left on her ESPN contract, was reportedly deemed expenadable by the WWL, after reports surfaced claiming Beadle was a “bad teammate” after saying she was boycotting football, and essentially being a no-show on ESPN’s morning show Get Up!, as wel as failing to promote her program on outside venues.
In September, Andrew Marchand of the New York Post reported that Beadle and her reps at CAA were in the midst of figuring out her next career move as they negotiated her exit from the ESPN/ABC organization.
This week, Marchard provided an update on Beadle’s situation, writing, “Beadle is officially out of ABC/ESPN’s NBA coverage. She had been leading Countdown when it had the top perch. Beadle, who makes $5 million per year, is expected to shortly finalize a buyout, according to sources.”
College analyst and reporter Maria Taylor will take over the hosting duties of NBA Countdown, according to Marchard, with longtime ESPN reporter Rachel Nichols taking over the top spot in ESPN’s pregame coverage.
The winners and losers of ABC/ESPN’s own version of Game of Thrones for its NBA studio programming are now official.
Rachel Nichols’ daily show, “The Jump,” is the network’s new pre-eminent NBA pregame show. It will lead into the NBA Finals, as well as appearing on Saturday nights live from ABC’s regular season games.
In addition to her new duties as host of NBA Countdown, Taylor will reportedly continue to do work for College Gameday, Saturday Night Football on ABC, and on women’s college basketball broadcasts.
As for where Beadle ends up, there has been speculation that she will go back to work for the man who gave her that $5 million salary after NBC “couldn’t wait to get rid of her,” her former boss at ESPN until he resigned because of cocaine addiction, John Skipper – the current executive chairman of DAZN Group.
This speculation was further fueled when during an interview with The Big Lead, DAZN head of digital Steve Braband stated that of the biggest social triumphs he oversaw when he worked at ESPN was “launching SportsNation and working with Colin Cowherd and Michelle Beadle.”