Everyone wants sports media coverage, but maybe not everyone should.
Mike Florio, the “Pro Football Talk” Syndicater/Insider/Gadfly Extraordinaire, is on the most-watched show, NBC’s “Football Night in America,” every Sunday night, but he’s getting a bit of a buzz from the league police and the media. Some of the things he does could be good.
Others, not so much.
This week, on the “SI Media with Jimmy Traina” podcast, Florio praised NBC over its rival network, Fox, regarding Tom Bradya $375 million TV gaming analyst who owns a 10 percent stake in Las Vegas Raiders.
“I’ve been with NBC for 15 years,” Florio said. “There is no way in hell NBC would give Tom Brady a microphone when he owns a piece of a team. They never would.”
Well, except when you own Dale Earnhardt Jr. Cars in the Xfinity Series on NBC. Earnhardt called races in the league, and not only. That’s been Fox’s arrangement with Brady so far.
Furthermore, NBC has just acquired the rights NBA Talks have been held with Dwyane Wade, a minority owner of the Utah Jazz, and Grant Hill, who is currently a TNT analyst and has an ownership stake in the Atlanta Hawks.
“They would never do that,” Florio told Traina. “They’ll say, ‘Tom, you gotta pick a lane.’
When asked if this was accurate, an NBC Sports spokesperson said, “We will not comment on hypotheticals.”
Florio created modern professional football almost a quarter-century ago, and it’s the incredible story of how he went from a lawyer with a hobby to an institution vying for football’s best spots and brought him front and center in his first studio show. But when he partnered with NBC, no matter how close he got to the edge — and he goes further than a lot of people — he went to the network and its relationships.
However, Pro Football Talk’s criticism of Mike Tirico at ESPN has disappeared since Tirico became a franchise player at NBC. Florio, the uncelebrated, thoughtfully all-in-all, failed to post his 2023 Football Night in America apology after commenting on the myth that kids who identify as cats are placed in litter boxes at school bathrooms. There was no first grader on the PFT.
“There is a fundamental difference between being a good teammate and having a percentage and having a significant voice in the direction of a team that competes in a league you cover,” The athlete On the comparisons between him and Brady.
All of this is not to say that Florio’s overarching point about the inherent conflict of interest with Brady’s ownership stake in the Raiders and Fox’s invitation doesn’t have merit. In an ideal world, it’s one world or the other.
In Florio’s world, Fox should have given Brady an ultimatum on his $375 million contract to broadcast games or own the Raiders. Even if you agree with Florio, Fox may not have the right to just walk away from the contract.
Florio has built a profitable business writing, reviewing, and reporting NFL news. Everyone goes often. In this case, it should not be. You know the glass houses and the rocks and everything.
(Photo: Mike Erman/Getty Emokises)
