ESPN gave Doris Burke a new contract last month. They also gave her a demotion.
On the very day the network announced she’d signed a multi-year deal to stay on and keep calling NBA games, it revealed she was being moved out of the top booth. Tim Legler will now sit alongside Mike Breen and Richard Jefferson for the Finals.
That means a fourth different broadcast team in four years for ESPN’s biggest stage. Not exactly a picture of stability.
To be clear, Burke isn’t being pushed aside. She’ll still work a full regular-season slate, continue as part of the NBA Sunday Showcase series, and call playoff games on both ESPN and ABC. But the Finals assignment is no longer hers.
ESPN president of content Burke Magnus defended the move this week on the Sports Media with Richard Dietsch podcast.
“We were still searching for the perfect combination,” Magnus said. He added that Burke’s best fit might actually be in a two-person booth, rather than part of a three-person crew.
Magnus also praised Legler, calling him a respected voice who has “earned” the opportunity after more than 25 years at the company.
Still, spin is spin. Burke may be signed long-term, but she was bumped down. That’s the reality. And it will be worth watching not only how ESPN deploys her moving forward, but also whether their latest booth experiment finally sticks.
Because for all of Burke’s professionalism and popularity, ESPN continues to act like it hasn’t yet figured out what it wants.
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I know media has to stick up for media, but she was just awful to listen to.. I usually opt for another game over listening to Doris Burke, she’s that bad..
I know I’m not the only one that feels this way.. the numbers must have shown the response to Burke, and ESPN did the right thing not a moment too soon.
When it comes to talking as if she’s a victim of it all.. lets slow down with that. There were I don’t know how many former players and media crew fired in recent years, Van Gundy, Jackson, etc.. And they kept Burke through all that.. The fact that she still has a job covering basketball is blessing and a privilege not afforded to others that did the job better Doris Burke is an exercise in fantasy hype and judgment where there are only heroes and villains, waiting to have their character judged by the blonde lady with the mic, who’s never done anything special on a basketball court. A black and white world with nothing of value in between. I hope that universe of fantasy is able to dissolve in a more permanent way as ESPN continues to realize what they’ve been feeding us these past years.