Last week, Dan Patrick signed with Sports Illustrated, presumably for more money than ESPN was offering him. This week, Rick Reilly, longtime SI columnist, made the opposite move, also presumably for more money.
Patrick and Reilly have played ESPN and SI against each other for their financial gain. But the network and magazine are stupid to engage in these lateral trades. Anyone who cares about following the work of Dan Patrick and Rick Reilly already watches ESPN and subscribes to Sports Illustrated. To the rest of us, all white guys reporting on sports look the same.
UPDATE: Rick Reilly confirmed the pay increase, saying “the money [at ESPN] is ridonkulous.”
Time Inc. has lured SportsCenter mainstay Dan Patrick away from ESPN The Magazine and his ESPN radio show and convinced him to totally switch directions. In a stunning turnaround, Patrick will henceforth be a senior writer at Sports Illustrated magazine and will host a radio show for Sports Illustrated’s website.
Yeah, we’re still trying to wrap our heads around it, too. But as far as we can tell, the name of the game is still synergy—meaning the only that’s really changed here is the brand. And, presumably, the number of zeros on those paychecks Patrick’s cashing.
[Folio]
• Busted! Chicago reporter Amy Jacobson fingered for showing up at a friend of a friend’s poolside BBQ wearing a “swimming top.”
• Dan Patrick is leaving SportsCenter! Related: MediaWeek capitalizes on opportunity to use outdated colloquialisms “scuttlebut” and “scotched.”
• Graydon Carter may have inadvertently made a big mistake in choosing Shia Laboeuf over that far more lucrative dead horse.
• Katie Couric is a not a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She’s simply a woman who likes to bitch and moan about her $60 million contract.
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