Chris Fowler's Future With ESPN In Doubt?

Lozo1016

Lozo1016

Hall of Fame
Andrew Marchand covers sports media for the NY Post, and he wrote an article about ESPN's potential layoffs. The piece talks about how ESPN is looking to save money and will be laying off workers in the coming months.

nypost.com

ESPN layoffs are coming soon — and nearly everyone is vulnerable

ESPN’s latest round of layoffs will have “no sacred cows,” meaning everybody from top on-air people to big-time executives are being scrutinized.
nypost.com nypost.com

There is a mention of ESPN's lead tennis play-by-play announcer Chris Fowler in the article:

Meanwhile, the ESPN belt-tightening is already being felt in negotiations with college football national championship game-caller Chris Fowler. Fowler, who reportedly makes around $3 million per year, and ESPN have been far apart in negotiations, according to sources.
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ESPN wants to retain Fowler, maybe even with a slight raise, as he is its lead college football and Grand Slam tennis voice, but he is not going to receive a large increase to put him anywhere near Buck money.
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In tweeting out the article Marchand says negotiations "have not gone well."

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1637889484048965635

It's likely that this is just a matter of being early in the process, but it's also possible that Fowler and ESPN can't come to an agreement. If so, that would feel like a huge change for ESPN's tennis coverage. I assume that would mean someone like Jason Goodall would get moved to the #1 announcing slot?

Stay tuned!
 
Open Stance

Open Stance

Professional
You only have to look how ESPN completely punted on their AO coverage to see where the future is going. For those that aren't aware, they didn't even send their crew down to Australia instead calling the matches in the middle of night from the studio in Bristol, Connecticut. The amount of air time that AO was on ESPN2 was also significantly reduced. With the massive amounts of money they spend on NFL and college football rights coupled with their financials challenges, they are going to have to cut somewhere. In their view, Fowler is probably replaceable on both college football and tennis. I also wouldn't be surprised to see ESPN not renew their AO coverage the next time that contract comes up either so it will probably end up on Tennis Channel like the FO already has.
 
M

mcs1970

Hall of Fame
Pass750 said:
The amount of coverage this year was terrible.
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Totally disagree. Who do you want? NBC? They will show matches on tape delay.

ESPN+ to me and many others was awesome. You could pick and choose what matches you wanted to see anytime. Plus you can cancel the subscription immediately afterwards.

The tennis viewing market is not that hot. If ESPN leaves which other network is rushing to pick it up? The ones who pick it up will probably have a much worse infrastructure to show all matches the way ESPN does.
 
marc45

marc45

G.O.A.T.
mcs1970 said:
Totally disagree. Who do you want? NBC? They will show matches on tape delay.

ESPN+ to me and many others was awesome. You could pick and choose what matches you wanted to see anytime. Plus you can cancel the subscription immediately afterwards.

The tennis viewing market is not that hot. If ESPN leaves which other network is rushing to pick it up? The ones who pick it up will probably have a much worse infrastructure to show all matches the way ESPN does.
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the problem with ESPN+ especially as regards the AO is the replay of the overnight matches if you're watching the next morning....the video is time stamped so at a certain point in the match you're likely to know who won before the match is over...major flaw, and one that didn't exist when you'd DVR it on ESPN/2 overnight
 
S

SonnyT

Legend
Considering that top NFL play by play announcers, like Jim Nantz, make $10m a year, Chris Fowler making 3m sounds reasonable. BTW, Tom Brady signs 300m, 10 year with Fox to be its lead NFL analyst.
 
M

mcs1970

Hall of Fame
marc45 said:
the problem with ESPN+ especially as regards the AO is the replay of the overnight matches if you're watching the next morning....the video is time stamped so at a certain point in the match you're likely to know who won before the match is over...major flaw, and one that didn't exist when you'd DVR it on ESPN/2 overnight
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Ok but that is something that is difficult to overcome with any digital media.

ESPN has its issues but as far as tennis coverage I prefer their solution to that of any other networks that are currently bothering to even pick up the majors. People are acting like other networks are eagerly waiting to pick up coverage the moment ESPN drops off. I am just thankful that Tennis is still getting that coverage from at least the major cable sports station
 
marc45

marc45

G.O.A.T.
mcs1970 said:
Ok but that is something that is difficult to overcome with any digital media.

ESPN has its issues but as far as tennis coverage I prefer their solution to that of any other networks that are currently bothering to even pick up the majors. People are acting like other networks are eagerly waiting to pick up coverage the moment ESPN drops off. I am just thankful that Tennis is still getting that coverage from at least the major cable sports station
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it needs to be overcomed unless removing suspense from sport is a goal
 
K

Kozzy

Hall of Fame
There's plenty to criticize, but I do miss the heyday of tennis on ESPN - those were pretty fun times. You can tell they've stopped investing in it as the Big 3 wind down, and Serena has retired.
 
MeatTornado

MeatTornado

Talk Tennis Guru
Open Stance said:
I also wouldn't be surprised to see ESPN not renew their AO coverage the next time that contract comes up either so it will probably end up on Tennis Channel like the FO already has.
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I've been assuming the same thing. Australia was a great way for ESPN to get their foot in the tennis door decades ago, but there's a reason those rights were available to buy, unlike RG/Wim/USO which were locked up by the major networks. Australia gets terrible ratings in the US because of the massive time difference. If looking to cut corners, I'm not surprised at all that they didn't pay to ship a whole crew down there for very little benefit. Any American who is watching the Australian Open between 10 PM and 6 AM is a diehard tennis fan and is going to watch no matter what. The crew not being there makes no difference.

It's only a matter of time until they let Australia go completely. Same way they let their coverage of the YEC and American Masters finals go. In the current cable landscape they need sure bets, and these days that's just Wimbledon and the US Open as far as tennis goes.
 
Rosstour

Rosstour

G.O.A.T.
MeatTornado said:
I've been assuming the same thing. Australia was a great way for ESPN to get their foot in the tennis door decades ago, but there's a reason those rights were available to buy, unlike RG/Wim/USO which were locked up by the major networks. Australia gets terrible ratings in the US because of the massive time difference. If looking to cut corners, I'm not surprised at all that they didn't pay to ship a whole crew down there for very little benefit. Any American who is watching the Australian Open between 10 PM and 6 AM is a diehard tennis fan and is going to watch no matter what. The crew not being there makes no difference.

It's only a matter of time until they let Australia go completely. Same way they let their coverage of the YEC and American Masters finals go. In the current cable landscape they need sure bets, and these days that's just Wimbledon and the US Open as far as tennis goes.
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My guess is they will keep it, but make it streaming only with remote commentators.
 
MeatTornado

MeatTornado

Talk Tennis Guru
Rosstour said:
As someone who's done VO and on-camera work, it's a lot harder than it looks. Even being adequate is very difficult.
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That doesn't mean there aren't still dozens of adequate replacements who could do the job for less than 1/3 of Fowler's asking price.

No one is watching college football or tennis for Chris Fowler. So in that sense, he's definitely not worth it from their side of the table if trying to cut costs.
 
I

insideguy

G.O.A.T.
I dont care who the commentators are during a match. And as far as coverage goes its mind boggling to me just how far off the radar tennis is in the states. If you dont have tennis channel outside of the Grand Slams you aint gonna find a match.
 
tennisbuck

tennisbuck

Hall of Fame
I’m sure he’s a fine man but he’s easily my least favorite tennis commentator on espn. And I’m not picky I like about everyone they have.
 
stringertom

stringertom

Bionic Poster
ESPN gets rid of all their fossils except the other Chris “The Boomer” Berman. Fowler has been with Bristol since 1986 and the majority of his $3million annual salary is earned covering what pays the bills…NCAA football. Going into the booth for tennis was just an add-on arrangement that escalated when ESPN needed a regular play-by-play voice after winning the bid for USO coverage from CBS in 2009.
 
J

jondice

Semi-Pro
So we won't have to listen him talk over everyone? Praise Fed and Fed alone (even though Fed is retired)? Talk over more people? Say inane things that make no sense?

Damn. I am devastated.
 
atatu

atatu

Legend
timvanrijthovendam said:
I enjoy Fowler honestly. But ESPN as a company has gone completely off the rails. Everything is politics and inclusion no matter if it draws viewers aka money. As the saying goes, go woke go broke.
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What does that even mean ? You're upset they have a few minorities doing commentary ? You realize guys ESPN had folks like Stuart Scott, Greg Gumbel and Robin Roberts from very early on right ?
 
M

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
marc45 said:
the problem with ESPN+ especially as regards the AO is the replay of the overnight matches if you're watching the next morning....the video is time stamped so at a certain point in the match you're likely to know who won before the match is over...major flaw, and one that didn't exist when you'd DVR it on ESPN/2 overnight
Click to expand...
This is picking nits, no? If you've been following tennis as long as you say you have, I'm a bit surprised that this bothers you so much. In 1995(not that long ago in the big picture) ESPN had a very short window of live coverage every night, and showed exactly zero of the AO night matches live - they only showed an edited version in a 2 hour time slot the next afternoon, long after the match ended. This was how they showed the famous sampras crying courier match! Of course anyone who turned on the radio or cnn(they used to have regular sports updates) knew the result. That match was kind of a big deal that generated some mainstream news reports in the US that morning. When you watched the replays the next day, it was always fairly obvious to me who won since I knew coverage ended at 3 pm est (and they often jumped from like the 2nd set to the 5th set, which was fun. I was about as diehard a tennis fan as was possible in 1995 and never was able to see the full Sampras Courier QF until Tennis Channel aired the whole thing in the mid 2000s(full tennis matches on youtube wasn't a thing yet)

And now today I can watch any match on any court during a major. It's still hard to believe the wealth of riches we have as fans today and blows my mind that fans have any complaints. We are talking about a major largely played in the middle of the night in the US, you know. I doubt many NFL/NBA/MLB fans would really tune in much if they had any games in that time zone. We tennis fans are an unusual lot, and ESPN + is as good as it possibly get for a fan. No one else here complained during the AO about ESPN +'s replays with regards to "spoilers," so I wouldn't hold my breath about this being fixed(what do you want them to do? add an hour of a blank screen after the match ends so the timecode is more ambiguous? That sounds nuts. Guess you'll just have to stay up all night if it's that important to you.
 
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M

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
mcs1970 said:
Totally disagree. Who do you want? NBC? They will show matches on tape delay.

ESPN+ to me and many others was awesome. You could pick and choose what matches you wanted to see anytime. Plus you can cancel the subscription immediately afterwards.

The tennis viewing market is not that hot. If ESPN leaves which other network is rushing to pick it up? The ones who pick it up will probably have a much worse infrastructure to show all matches the way ESPN does.
Click to expand...

Yeah if ESPN drops AO, TC will be the only network picking it up. And they may put a lot of it on TC Plus(cause increasing streaming subs is kind of every networks goal these days and TC knows nerds like us will pony up $)
 
I

ihitlikeagirl

Semi-Pro
MeatTornado said:
Any American who is watching the Australian Open between 10 PM and 6 AM is a diehard tennis fan and is going to watch no matter what. The crew not being there makes no difference.
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I can see your point. What I don't get is that they own the rights, and then despite no other competing sport being available to broadcast during the 10pm-6am hours they cut the broadcast short (this year and maybe last year)??!!! It's just silly that if you own the rights, want to be seen as the home of tennis in the US that you don't show live matches especially when the time difference means you've got no LIVE sport of any kind to fill that time slot. I like the up all night and I would say the commentators do make a difference to me--it's the familiarity with them vs a draw specifically to a person on the team. I would say the ESPN team is more vibrant (good or bad) than a Tennis Channel team--and pay or status reflects that. It's interesting now that they must be allowing the commentators that want to do double duty out of non-compete clauses in their contracts: Caroline Woz, Jason Goodall, Pam Shriver as they are commentating on both networks (different events).
 
marc45

marc45

G.O.A.T.
Moose Malloy said:
This is picking nits, no? If you've been following tennis as long as you say you have, I'm a bit surprised that this bothers you so much. In 1995(not that long ago in the big picture) ESPN had a very short window of live coverage every night, and showed exactly zero of the AO night matches live - they only showed an edited version in a 2 hour time slot the next afternoon, long after the match ended. This was how they showed the famous sampras crying courier match! Of course anyone who turned on the radio or cnn(they used to have regular sports updates) knew the result. That match was kind of a big deal that generated some mainstream news reports in the US that morning. When you watched the replays the next day, it was always fairly obvious to me who won since I knew coverage ended at 3 pm est (and they often jumped from like the 2nd set to the 5th set, which was fun. I was about as diehard a tennis fan as was possible in 1995 and never was able to see the full Sampras Courier QF until Tennis Channel aired the whole thing in the mid 2000s(full tennis matches on youtube wasn't a thing yet)

And now today I can watch any match on any court during a major. It's still hard to believe the wealth of riches we have as fans today and blows my mind that fans have any complaints. We are talking about a major largely played in the middle of the night in the US, you know. I doubt many NFL/NBA/MLB fans would really tune in much if they had any games in that time zone. We tennis fans are an unusual lot, and ESPN + is as good as it possibly get for a fan. No one else here complained during the AO about ESPN +'s replays with regards to "spoilers," so I wouldn't hold my breath about this being fixed(what do you want them to do? add an hour of a blank screen after the match ends so the timecode is more ambiguous? That sounds nuts. Guess you'll just have to stay up all night if it's that important to you.
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have no idea why you would be surprised

I've been watching tennis since the early 70's so I'm quite familiar with the broadcasting of it

first of all, it's not 1995, things should always be getting better...we shouldn't know the winner before we watch the match or during it...I actually credit myself for some of the improvement over the years at ESPN...I used to constantly complain to them about the ticker being used on ESPN during tennis, especially the major matches...sometimes you'd be watching a match on tape and the final score would flash!....also, the ticker was showing all sports news and taking away the special vibe of a tennis tournament standing on its own....you notice now the ticker has basically been retired during major slam matches

again, if you can't be up overnight to watch live on ESPN+ you go there to watch the next day and barring any weird ending, mainly injury, you're going to find out the winner before the replay is over...unacceptable, they have to remove the timer at the bottom of the video

there were/are no such issues with my cable box...if I'm recording a match on ESPN or TC I program it for the entire block on the guide and add an additional two hours plus even the next programming blocks...I have no idea then when the match will end
 
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MissileBackHand99

Semi-Pro
God I hope so. Fowler is a HACK, and has been since he started inexplicably announcing tennis in 2003 (He sucks at college football too, btw. Nowhere near as wonderful as Brent Musberger or the legendary Keith Jackson). Fowler talks THROUGH the points, blabbers endlessly about what a player “is thinking”, and says unnecessary *******-ish criticisms of every player not named Novak Djokovic (and has done so for well over a decade). One of the first bonehead calls I saw him make was after Fed lost in the 2003 French Open “another brick constructed to a monument of unfilled talent” *eyeroll*
 
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