Richard Deitsch On Changes At ESPN, Schilling's Salary, And More
BOSTON (CBS) -- ESPN pulled a rotten stunt -- at least in the eyes of Toucher & Rich -- by removing Ray Lewis from its NFL coverage this year. Considering how much audio from Lewis routinely ended up filling hours upon hours of Toucher & Rich programming, the news was not welcomed on the program.
But the show must go on, and with all of the changes at ESPN in recent weeks, T&R welcomed SI media critic Richard Deitsch to the program.
The first question: When Curt Schilling announced he was making $2.5 million at ESPN before getting fired, was he lying?
Deitsch said $2.5 million is probably accurate, as that's what former athletes with a reputation tend to get paid.
"I had a very good source who led me to what Skip Bayless is going to make at Fox, and you feel like Elvis. You want to shoot the TV, because it's like, 'What's going on here?'" Deitsch said. "And then there are other people who are doing incredible work who are paid much less than you think."
As for Schilling's future, Deitsch said Schilling may have the easiest path in sports talk, not political talk.
"I would be very surprised if I didn't see Schilling on some kind of Sirius XM type of place," Deitsch said. "I could see him doing some kind of a hybrid of a sports and politics show, or maybe even going into politics specifically. Although, that's a crowded field for Curt. There are a lot of people out there who are doing conservative radio with more experience than him. But I think if he is interested in staying in broadcasting -- which I imagine he is -- I think he's definitely going to get opportunities."
Then, the conversation was steered toward NFL coverage. Cris Carter, Keyshawn Johnson and Mike Ditka are no longer part of ESPN's Sunday morning show, and Ray Lewis is no longer on the Monday night coverage.
On Lewis, Deitsch doesn't think ESPN will be losing much.
"I think I got more insight from Ray Lewis looking at his phone than from anything Ray Lewis said about the NFL in the last few years," Deitsch said.
Overall though, Deitsch said ESPN simply saw room for improvement on its most high-profile programs.
"The people behind the scenes, the executives, have believed for a while that their show was a little too old and that it wasn't feeling current with Mike Ditka, Cris Carter, Keyshawn Johnson," he said. "They felt that they were just a little bit of a step behind what was going on in the league and relevancy to the league. Add in the fact that Cris Carter had a pretty bad 12 months when it came to personal news about him. And you start sort of thinking if you're an executive, 'OK, contracts are coming up, it's always a big part of the business, are there places we could go to improve the show?'
"So they brought in Charles Woodson to improve the show, that's a guy just out of the league, very bright, smart, will be good. They got rid of Keyshawn. And now with contractual stuff coming up with Cris Carter, Ray Lewis, again they saw another opportunity where they can improve both their Sunday morning show and their Monday night show."
Ultimately, though, the Sunday morning show won't improve until Chris Berman leaves, in Deitsch's opinion.
"The Sunday morning show will dramatically improve when Chris Berman eventually leaves. Then you get a host, whether it's a Trey Wingo or something like that who's prepping all the time, knows the game, and most importantly, [makes it so that] it's not like we're at the Catskills and a guy's giving me a three-drink minimum with his schtick," Deitsch said. "I want a host in there who's a professional host without dropping "DA RAIDERRRS" or some Jefferson Starship reference."
Deitsch also discussed Randy Moss likely joining ESPN, Peyton Manning's future in broadcasting, and whether Fox Sports 1 can start to make a dent on ESPN's ratings.
