Nick Piccone
ESPN’s football coverage over the last few decades has been anchored by two men: Tom Jackson and Chris Berman. And on Saturday night, at the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony in Canton, Ohio, Jackson bid farewell to ESPN and Berman.
Jackson announced his retirement earlier this week, almost 30 years after being hired by ESPN. He’s been a fixture on pregame and postgame shows, Super Bowls and the Hall of Fame ceremonies throughout the years. It won’t be the same watching ESPN football coverage without him on the television screen.
Watch Berman send Jackson off in the emotional exchange below.
The Big Lead reported back in May that Berman would be leaving ESPN after this football season, as well. Berman’s agent denied the report. More on that, via Business Insider:
On Tuesday, Jim Miller, author of “Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN,” was a guest on “The Dan Patrick Show” and discussed Berman’s future, saying that Berman would most likely stay with the network but that his role would be severely reduced.
“It’s clear that he will be changing roles,” Miller told Dan Patrick. “There is no doubt about it. He is going to ride out this football season. But I think that given his contract is up I believe sometime later this year, it’s time. It seems like we’ve been talking about Berman’s future since the dawn of man, and I think we’re finally at the point where it’s going to be reconfigured.”
But while ESPN has jettisoned other big names in the past year, including Bill Simmons, Colin Cowherd, Keith Olbermann, and Jason Whitlock, Berman’s over-the-top personality is too big for the self-proclaimed Worldwide Leader in Sports to just cut the cord completely.
“I think he is too big a personality in ESPN history for them to just vote him off the island, hit the delete key,” Miller said. “And I don’t think that’s his wishes anyway. So I think they’re going to probably try to carve out some emeritus role with a variety of functions around that.”