NFL Network continues to make questionable financial moves by removing four on-air employees.
According to Andrew Marchand of the Athletic, the trimming at NFL Network continues as on-air personalities Melissa Stark, Andrew Siciliano, James Palmer, and Will Selva are all out, as an executive with direct knowledge of the moves said.
“As is normal business this time of year, we are evaluating our talent roster for the upcoming 2024 season and beyond,” NFLN spokesperson Alex Riethmiller told The Athletic. That process results in renewals, non-renewals, and additions to our talent lineup, depending on programming needs. To those departing talent, we give our sincere thanks and appreciation for their hard work and contributions to NFL Media.”
NFL Network “Purging”
These past couple of months have already seen a few questionable decisions for one of the most notable NFL entities. The “removal” of these personalities has been noted to cut costs, but moving one of their most popular entities seemed to begin there.
The network recently announced moving its popular show, “Good Morning Football,” from New York to its Los Angeles studios. Only one person, Jamie Erdahl, has announced their intentions of moving with the show.
According to NBS Sports Pro Football Talk, There’s nothing normal, natural, or typical about what’s happening at NFLN. The league clumsily moved its popular morning show from one coast to the other, all in an effort to cut costs. In the interim, the show has gone off the air—for months—starting less than a month before the draft, for crying out loud.
Why make the cuts?
This cost-cutting could be a way to make the network more attractive in a possible equity swap with ESPN. In January, The Athletic reported that the NFL had been in “advanced talks” with ESPN to acquire an equity stake in the network. (Yahoo Sports)
In exchange, ESPN would gain control of NFL Network and other NFL Media assets. Since the initial report, the status of that deal has not been updated.
Melissa Stark
Stark worked for five seasons in multiple roles with NFLN. She also worked for ABC Sports and ESPN and still works for NBC.
Stark covered the network’s significant events and remained the sideline reporter for NBC’s “Sunday Night Football.”
Andrew Siciliano
Siciliano was one of the network’s main hosts for years. Beginning in 2005, he gained popularity as the on-air conductor for DirecTV’s “RedZone” package before the platform lost the rights to YouTube TV.
James Palmer
Palmer was a national reporter for NFL Network. He had been with the network for nearly a decade.
Some personal news. NFL Network has bought out my contract and my time there has come to an end. It was a dream job and I loved every minute of it. And that's mostly because of the people that I got to work with and the friendships that will last well beyond any "job". I'm…
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) April 4, 2024
Will Selva
Selva has hosted some of the network’s premier shows, including SportsCenter, College Football Live, Baseball Tonight, NBA Tonight, First Take, and College Basketball Final, in addition to his work on ESPNEWS. Selva worked with Good Morning Football since its beginning.
“The irony as to Selva is that he contributed to Good Morning Football from L.A. since its inception. Now that the show is moving to him, the NFL is moving him out.” (The Athletic)
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