Now that the World Cup is over, it appears the networks have decided to make moves in anticipation of the NFL and other sports. A flood of sports media news is coming into the Fang’s Bites inbox and this is one of the bigger stories to happen over the last couple of months.
Sports Illustrated’s Richard Deitsch reports that the solid Pam Oliver who has been the main sideline reporter for the NFL on Fox will be removed from the “A” team with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman and will be demoted to the “B” team with Kevin Burkhardt and John Lynch. Replacing Oliver will be Erin Andrews who worked with Burkhardt and Lynch last season.
In addition, this coming season will be Oliver’s last on the sidelines before Fox moves her to a reporting position full-time. Fox plans to have her do interviews and long-form reports and Oliver will continue to be a correspondent for Showtime’s 60 Minutes Sports.
Oliver told Deitsch that Fox Sports executives flew to Atlanta where she lives to inform her of the news personally and added, “I think it was predetermined coming in. Not at that meeting, but two years ago it was determined that no matter what I did or did not do, a change would be made for this year.”
Oliver has been very good on the sidelines and performed well. She’s never been a self-promoter or a glam girl. She does her job and doesn’t ask cliché questions.
In her 50’s, Oliver will be replaced by Andrews who is in her mid-30’s. And while Fox has attempted to make Andrews their star since signing her in 2012, she has struggled as a studio host.
By putting her on the NFL on Fox “A” team, her profile will be raised and she’ll be in many more homes than when she was working on the “B” team last season.
This smacks of ageism and while Fox is spinning this as best as it can, there’s no doubt that there is negative reaction to the move. We’ve seen this historically on the sidelines.
Alex Flanagan is removed from the Notre Dame sidelines by NBC, Lesley Visser taken off the Monday Night Football sidelines for Melissa Stark. It’s a vicious cycle.
Oliver is a fighter and will no doubt land on her feet in her new role when her sideline gig is done. Had Fox announced that Oliver would remain on the “A” team while giving her a sendoff from the NFL package, would that have softened the blow? Probably not.
But the network practice of replacing solid reporters for the younger model is a nasty one and unfortunately continues well into the 21st Century.
