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Award-winning ESPN NFL reporter Chris Mortensen dies at 72
Mar 3, 2024, 04:37 PM ET
Chris Mortensen, an award-winning journalist who reported on the NFL for ESPN for more than three decades, died Sunday morning at the age of 72, his family announced Sunday.
Mortensen joined ESPN in 1991 and was a regular contributor to the network's NFL shows and "SportsCenter." He was a regular news breaker for ESPN, including the news in 106 that that Peyton Manning was retiring from the NFL.
In 2016, he received as Pro Football Writers of America's Dick McCann Award winner and was honored during the Pro Football Hall of Fame's enshrinement ceremony in August that year.
"Mort was widely respected as an industry pioneer and universally beloved as a supportive, hard-working teammate," Jimmy Pitaro, chairman of ESPN, said in a statement. "He covered the NFL with extraordinary skill and passion, and was at the top of his field for decades. He will truly be missed by colleagues and fans, and our hearts and thoughts are with his loved ones."
Chris Mortensen, who began covering the NFL for ESPN in 1991, won several awards in his career, including the prestigious Dick McCann Award from the Pro Football Writers Association of America. Phil Ellsworth/ESPN Images
Mortensen, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 throat cancer in January 2016, stepped away from his role at ESPN last year "to focus on my health, family and faith."
"Mort helped set the journalism standard in the early days of ESPN. His credibility, attention to detail and reporting skills catapulted our news and information to a new level," Norby Williamson, executive editor and head of studio production for ESPN, said in a statement. "More importantly, he was a great teammate and human being. He personified care and respect for people which became the culture of ESPN."
Before coming to ESPN, he wrote for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (1983-90), covering the Falcons, Braves and the NFL, and won the George Polk Award in 1987 for his reporting. He also wrote for the sports daily "The National" (1989-90) and was one of the first writers hired by editor Frank Deford before coming to ESPN.
He also was a columnist for The Sporting News, a contributor to Sport magazine, and a consultant with CBS Sports' "NFL Today" (1990).
Mortensen, who began his journalist career at the South Bay (California) Daily Breeze in 1969, won the National Headliner Award for investigate reporting in all categories. He received 18 awards in journalism and was nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes in his career.
Mortensen, a native of Torrance, California, was born on Nov. 7, 1951. He attended El Camino College before serving two years in the Army.
He is survived by his wife Micki and son Alex.
Award-winning ESPN reporter Mortensen dies
Chris Mortensen, an award-winning journalist who reported on the NFL for ESPN for more than three decades, died Sunday morning at the age of 72.
Chris Mortensen, Veteran ESPN NFL Reporter, Dies at 72
Chris Mortensen, the longtime, award-winning ESPN NFL reporter, died Sunday. He was 72.
variety.com
Lack of father figure in his life..smh...no matter how many black people he hang out with, still has that dog whistle in his pocket
Lack of father figure in his life..smh...no matter how many black people he hang out with, still has that dog whistle in his pocket
Kaboom to infinity
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Wrong sport boss. Nigga threw a knuckle curve from three point land.
Alex Rodriguez ‘closing in’ on deal to leave ESPN, work exclusively for Fox
A-Rod might be evacuating the Mothership.nypost.com
Alex Rodriguez ‘closing in’ on deal to leave ESPN, work exclusively for Fox
By
Ryan Glasspiegel
July 28, 2023 12:54pm
Updated
Up Next - Baseball Night in New York crew discuss Shohei Ohtani's removal from the trade block impact on the Mets and Yankees chances of signing him this offseason
A-Rod might be evacuating the Mothership.
Alex Rodriguez is “closing in” on a multi-year contract with Fox Sports to remain a studio analyst with the network, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The report says the new Fox Sports contract “is said to be exclusive, meaning that the current season will be his last at ESPN.”
The 14-time All-Star has been working for both networks for the past several years.
At ESPN, Rodriguez had been the color commentator on the network’s “Sunday Night Baseball” weekly telecast.
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Since last season, Rodriguez has worked with Yankees play-by-play broadcaster Michael Kay on a select series of “KayRod” simulcasts on Sunday nights on ESPN2, and has called a few other ESPN baseball games per year as an analyst.
Alex Rodriguez participates in Fox Sports baseball coverage in May 2017.Corbis via Getty Images
He has been with ESPN since 2018.
Rodriguez joined Fox Sports’ MLB playoff studio coverage in 2015 and 2016 before he signed on as a full-time analyst in 2017.
The Hollywood Reporter’s story notes that Rodriguez’s new deal is “believed to be the most lucrative deal yet for an MLB analyst.”
Rodriguez works on the Fox Sports baseball coverage alongside Kevin Burkhardt and analysts David Ortiz and Derek Jeter.
Fox Sports first aired the World Series in 1996 and has done so consecutively since 2000.
A-Rod works at Fox Sports alongside Kevin Burkhardt, Derek Jeter and David Ortiz.Getty Images
The exclusive deal with Fox Sports has not been finalized, sources cautioned.
Spokespeople for Fox Sports and ESPN declined to comment to The Post for this story.
Rodriguez’s MLB career spanned from 1994-2016, with the Mariners, Rangers and Yankees.
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He was a three-time American League MVP and won the 2009 World Series with the Bombers.
Rodriguez purchased the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves with Marc Lore, the billionaire who was formerly an executive at Walmart.
A-Rod, Lore lose backing in deal for Timberwolves
Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore have lost the financial backing of the Carlyle Group with one payment left to claim majority ownership of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx.
Bickerstaff on threats: Betting has gone 'too far'
Cavaliers coach J.B. Bickerstaff says sports betting has "gone too far" and that he's reported threatened by gamblers to the NBA. "It is a dangerous game" he said.
this sports betting about to be DANGEROUS
ESPN is open for business: How the coming months will shape the sports TV giant's future
Pursuing partnerships with leagues and preparing a direct-to-consumer product, ESPN is heading into a landscape-altering stretch.
theathletic.com
Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek breaks silence, says there’s no strategic need for ESPN partners
PUBLISHED THU, MAR 21 20246:00 AM EDTUPDATED 4 HOURS AGO
Alex Sherman@SHERMAN4949
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KEY POINTS
- Former Disney CEO Bob Chapek made his first public comments since his 2022 firing.
- He told CNBC he didn’t see the strategic logic in ESPN bringing on more minority partners.
- Chapek spoke for a CNBC documentary on ESPN’s digital strategy.
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Bob Chapek, chief executive officer of Disney, speaks at the 2022 Disney Legends Awards during Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim, California, Sept. 9, 2022.
Mario Anzuoni | Reuters
In his first public comments since Disney fired him as CEO in November 2022, Bob Chapek told CNBC he sees no reason for Disney-owned ESPN to add minority partners.
“Strategically, I don’t really see a benefit in bringing on yet another minority partner into ESPN,” Chapek said as part of the CNBC documentary “ESPN’s Fight for Dominance,” which chronicles the network’s digital strategy, published Thursday.
Disney CEO Bob Iger told CNBC’s David Faber in July that he’d consider selling a minority stake in ESPN to strengthen the sports network’s content or technology as it plans a new direct-to-consumer offering, which he later said would launch by fall 2025.
The company hasn’t yet announced a deal to sell a stake in ESPN. CNBC reported in August that the network had held talks with the major American professional sports leagues, including the National Football League and the National Basketball Association, about potential partnerships or investments.
Disney owns 80% of ESPN and Hearst owns the other 20%, a structure that’s been in place since 1996. By searching for a partner, Disney wants to enhance the content, distribution and marketing of the direct-to-consumer ESPN, which hasn’t yet been priced, Iger said during Disney’s August quarterly earnings call.
Striking a partnership with one of the professional sports leagues could help secure future live rights, though it may irritate other media companies that bid against Disney for packages of games. Bringing on a technology or telecommunications company such as Verizon or Apple could give ESPN broader distribution options by reaching larger customer bases.
Still, it’s unclear selling equity in ESPN is needed to strike an arrangement. ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro, who also spoke with CNBC as part of the documentary, downplayed the need for the sports network to sell a stake in its business to build a partnership with a league or another company.
“It’s not about equity,” Pitaro said. “It’s not about these partners taking an ownership interest in ESPN. That is something, as Bob [Iger] has said, that we are very much open to, but this is about partnership and accelerating the launch or the adoption of ESPN flagship.”
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Chairman Jimmy Pitaro on ESPN’s uncertain future
Chapek’s first interview since his 2022 firing
Chapek’s remarks are his first public statements since Disney’s board fired him and brought back Iger as CEO about 16 months ago. He and Iger, who had stayed on as Disney’s executive chairman, had a strained relationship that got progressively worse through Chapek’s tenure as CEO, which ran nearly three years from 2020 to 2022, as documented by CNBC in September. Chapek declined to comment on anything other than ESPN’s future for the CNBC documentary.While Chapek said he didn’t agree with the need to bring on a partner for strategic reasons, he did acknowledge Disney might do it to bring in cash to pay for Comcast’s one-third stake in Hulu, which Disney has committed to buy for at least $8.6 billion.
“There’s already one minority strategic partner in Hearst. So this would be bringing on a second minority strategic partner,” Chapek said. “Obviously, the benefit of doing that is that you make available some cash. And given some of the conversation that’s been happening between Comcast and Disney in terms of needing to buy the final share of Hulu to make it wholly owned by the Disney company, it’s possible that maybe that cash itself is what they’re after.”
ESPN Chairman James Pitaro at a New York Yankees baseball game at Yankee Stadium in New York City, June 19, 2019.
The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Hub for all sports
Chapek also discussed the vision he had as CEO of turning ESPN into a centralized hub to direct consumers to where a game is streaming, no matter which company owns the rights to air it — a concept CNBC first reported in March 2023.“If I’m on my Apple TV and I want to watch a movie, I have no idea whether it’s on Prime or Netflix or Disney+ or Hulu or wherever it’s at,” Chapek said. “The way I find out is I go to Apple TV, I plug in the movie that I’m looking to watch, and they direct me exactly to where that movie is. And then they connect me seamlessly without me then having to exit and go to another app to go find the show on that app. I think ESPN should be that source for a central clearinghouse.”
Adding one-stop navigation can help ESPN become the first place sports fans go to when they want to watch a game, even if Disney doesn’t own the rights to certain sports, Chapek said.
“How do you make yourself indispensable to the sports viewer so that they stay on with you as you evolve over to a streaming world? I think solving that problem would be one big way to do it,” Chapek said.
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www.hollywoodreporter.com
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A-Rod, Lore lose backing in deal for Timberwolves
Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore have lost the financial backing of the Carlyle Group with one payment left to claim majority ownership of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx.www.espn.com
Glen Taylor announces that Timberwolves, Lynx are no longer for sale
The Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Lynx will evidently remain in the control of owner Glen Taylor, after he announced Thursday that a deal where Marc Lore and former baseball star Alex Rodriguez would have acquired the controlling stake in the team has expired.
www.mprnews.org
Owner halts sale of Wolves, Lynx to Lore, A-Rod
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor is no longer selling his controlling stake, saying minority owners Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez didn't meet contractual deadlines.
Kyle Brandt Signs Off ‘Good Morning Football’ From NYC & Addresses Viewers Concerns Over Move To LA
Kyle Brandt and Jason McCourty hosted Good Morning Football one last time from the NYC studio before the show's move to LA later this year.
deadline.com