After week of silence, FOX Sports confirms Cris Carter is out
Vikings great Cris Carter is no longer employed as a TV personality of FOX Sports.
"Cris Carter is no longer with Fox Sports. There is no further comment at this time," FOX Sports said in a statement to John Ourand of Sports Business Journal.
It's unclear if Carter was fired or walked away on his own, but the finality of the statement issued Thursday comes after a full week of Carter missing from "First Things First" and the TV network providing no reason why.
The Big Lead was the first to report Carter's unexplained absence, which began last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday before carrying over to this week. Ex-Giants defensive back Chris Canty has been filling in for Carter alongside Carter's co-hosts, Nick Wright and Jenna Wolfe.
Front Office Sports reported earlier this week that Carter had a "bad" blowup with network management because he hasn't been included in Fox's coverage of Thursday Night Football.
But the New York Post says Carter's displeasure about Thursday Night Football isn't why he's out.
"He may have been upset about not having a role on TNF, but sources said the matter at hand is more serious. It is unknown at this time what the exact nature of the disagreement. Carter could not be immediately reached for comment."
Instead, FOX has given former NFL stars Tony Gonzalez and Rob Gronkowski air time as analysts during Thursday Night Football pregame, halftime and postgame coverage.
Carter joined FOX Sports in 2016 after working with ESPN for nearly a decade. He played for the Vikings from 1990-2001 and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen. His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011. Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play. Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers. Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.