Star sportscaster Rich Eisen returning to ESPN two decades after departure

In what appears to be a deal similar to controversial podcast star Pat McAfee’s, Rich Eisen is returning to ESPN more than two decades after leaving the sports giant to become the face of the NFL Network.

According to The Athletic, the longtime sports host will move The Rich Eisen Show from Roku to ESPN in the coming months as part of the network’s upcoming stand-alone streaming product. ESPN’s direct-to-consumer offering, which has been in the works for years and would allow viewers to skip cable subscriptions, is slated to launch this fall.

Much like McAfee, Eisen owns his daily talk show and will be licensing its content to ESPN to air on its streaming outlets. Prior to its placement on Roku in 2022, the program was aired on NBC Sports Network and Peacock. It is also distributed on the radio by Westwood One and is available on the satellite network SiriusXM.

An ESPN spokesperson declined to comment.

“The addition of Eisen is considered a complement to ‘The Pat McAfee Show,’ which is also scheduled from noon to 3 p.m. ET daily, with placement on ESPN’s top channel for its first two hours,” The Athletic noted. “When ESPN licensed McAfee’s program on a five-year deal for more than $85 million, a big part of its thinking was its reimagined app and the direct-to-consumer product. Like McAfee, Eisen figures to have prominent placement on the app. Eisen will not be on any of ESPN’s linear networks, which include ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNews.”

Besides the new direct-to-consumer product, Eisen’s show will also be featured on the network’s streaming app ESPN+ and Disney+, which the sports network’s corporate parent owns. It is also possible that his daily program, which runs from noon to 3 p.m. ET on weekdays, could land on ESPN Radio.

In the roll-out for the stand-alone offering to consumers, ESPN has been looking to recruit some other well-known sports talk personalities to provide content for the platform. Last month, The Athletic reported that ESPN executives met with Fox Sports host Colin Cowherd about returning to his former network. In the end, though, Cowherd remained with Fox and will continue to run his podcast venture.

Eisen, who left ESPN in 2003 for the NFL Network, will stay with the league-owned channel and remain the host of GameDay and its draft coverage. He is also expected to announce a select number of games for the network.

Eisen’s role with the “Worldwide Leader” could potentially grow in the coming years, as ESPN has been in talks to acquire NFL Media from the league. “As ESPN’s direct-to-consumer service nears launch, sources have indicated a deal, which has been in the red zone before, has its best chance of being completed,” The Athletic noted.