Ranking the 15 Talents to Most Successfully Leave ESPN Since 2000

For at least the past quarter-century, ESPN has been the dominant brand in sports media. While its outer edges are being chewed by media fragmentation, cord cutting, increasing rights fees, and both legacy and upstart competition, ESPN remains a difficult place to leave. Among those who have departed, many have gotten lost in the media landscape; others decided the grass was not greener on the other side. 

This list encompasses 15 talents who had prominent positions at The Mothership, left since the year 2000 to join other media entities, and never returned. The criteria for the rankings are a) body of work, i.e. what have they accomplished outside of ESPN in aggregate, as opposed to being a power ranking of where they stand right now, and b) relevance in the proverbial (if unquantifiable) conversation. It’s difficult to rank people who are on game broadcasts — which are the most-seen vehicles in sports media by a substantial margin, but which the primary attraction is the leagues and athletes as opposed to the broadcasters — versus opinionists or journalists who drive interest in their own work. This is is an inherently subjective exercise and surely you will have your own thoughts about where everyone should be ranked.

15. Brent Musburger

Musburger is having something of a renaissance of late; he’s slated to do the radio broadcasts for the Oakland Raiders and is also joining a daily FS1 gambling show with Charissa Thompson and Clay Travis, according to a recent report from Sporting News’ Michael McCarthy (update: Musburger and Thompson opted not to do the show). The VSiN gambling network he and his son spearheaded built an infrastructure that is primed to capitalize on the new legality.

5. Erin Andrews

Andrews left ESPN for FOX Sports in 2012; she is a sideline reporter on the network’s top NFL team with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, and will also be on their Thursday Night telecasts this upcoming season. Additionally, she has co-hosted Dancing With the Stars since 2014.

4. Mike Tirico

If you gave Tirico a truth serum, it would be very surprising if he were not chomping at the bit to do play-by-play on Sunday Night Football, which Al Michaels does not appear to be leaving anytime soon. Nevertheless, he will be the NBC NFL studio show’s primary host this upcoming season. He will call Notre Dame games. He has hosted the Olympics and Stanley Cup, and calls The Open Championship golf major. We also see him pop up on the Triple Crown.

3. Rich Eisen

Eisen is the face of NFL Network. He was their first employee, and hosts the Sunday pregame show and NFL Draft coverage. He has anchored Thursday Night Football, but reportedly that role will be fulfilled by Michael Strahan as the package moves to FOX this season. Eisen also hosts a daily radio show on FOX Sports Radio.

2. Colin Cowherd

Cowherd took a big risk in being the first ESPN talent to follow Jamie Horowitz to FS1. While Horowitz exited last summer, Cowherd remains influential at the network. The New York Post’s Andrew Marchand recently reported that he is “closing in” on a new four-year deal in which he will continue to host The Herd and appear on the aforementioned FOX NFL Kickoff. Love him or hate him, it says something about his power that he can agitate Baker Mayfield and Dabo Swinney (on the heels of a national title, no less).

1. Dan Patrick

Dan Patrick is the person who for a long time was the first to come to mind when pondering if it’s possible to build out an individualist brand outside of ESPN. While he is leaving NBC (where he hosted Football Night in America and the Olympics), he re-upped with DirecTV for more years of the nationally syndicated TV/radio show that initially began as a niche enterprise. He has also hosted Sports Jeopardy, and in 2017 launched the Dan Patrick School of Sports Broadcasting.

Just missed: Pat Forde, Bruce Feldman, Michael Irvin, Chris Broussard

Disclosure: The Big Lead’s editor-in-chief Jason McIntyre is an on-air personality at FS1.

14. Andrea Kremer

Kremer left ESPN in 2006, heading to NBC to work as a sideline reporter for Sunday Night Football, as well as contribute to their studio show. She covered both the summer and winter Olympics, and eventually headed to NFL Network in 2012. She also contributes to HBO’s Real Sports With Bryant Gumbel.

12 & 13. Rob Stone & Alexi Lalas

Stone left ESPN for FOX Sports in 2012. He anchors college basketball and college football coverage on FS1, and is probably best known for his work on FOX Sports’ soccer studio program, most notably for the World Cup. Perhaps he will also rejoin Pro Bowling Association coverage, which he hosted for ESPN and which FOX recently acquired the rights for. Lalas joined FOX in 2014, and has positioned himself as a very opinionated analyst in the studio.

11. David Aldridge

Aldridge left ESPN for Turner Sports in 2004. He has been on the top broadcast team for sideline reporting, doing the NBA conference finals for TNT. He also writes for NBA.com.

10. Brad Nessler & Gary Danielson

Danielson left ESPN for CBS in 2006, and has been on the SEC football game of the week telecast ever since, first with Verne Lundquist and then, beginning in 2016, with Nessler.

9. Kevin Frazier

The former SportsCenter anchor and NBA Shoot Around host may have mostly left the sports arena, but as co-host of Entertainment Tonight, his career is flourishing. He also co-hosts CBS’s coverage of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, and founded the website HipHollywood.com.

8. Bill Simmons

Simmons is the hardest person on this list to rank. His rise up or fall down this list will manifest itself in the coming months, when we figure out whether and to what extent he remains with HBO, or takes his talents elsewhere. Any Given Wednesday flopped, as he readily admitted. Even still, he stirs discussion. The Ringer has started to pick up some momentum, as was evidenced by the Bryan Colangelo saga. The Andre the Giant documentary that he produced was a great success.

7. Charissa Thompson

Thompson, who left ESPN for FOX Sports in 2013, anchors the pre-pregame show, FOX NFL Kickoff. It’s one of the only properties associated with the NFL that has been growing. She spent some time co-hosting Extra with Mario Lopez. As previously mentioned, she will reportedly be hosting a new daily gambling program on FS1.

6. Skip Bayless

While Bayless’s ratings on the nearly-two-year-old Undisputed do not compare favorably to some children’s programming, there are starting to be days where Undisputed draws near or even over 200,000 viewers. Whether you love or loathe Skip, I recommend reading this profile about him and his brother, celebrity chef Rick Bayless, that ran in The Postgame last week.