SI

Inside the NFL’s Bizarre Handling of ‘Good Morning Football’

Also in Traina Thoughts: New “SI Media With Jimmy Traina” podcast; Travis Kelce’s Yoko Ono confusion; a wild college basketball gambling moment and more.

Jimmy Traina

1. The NFL Network announced Tuesday that its signature daily morning show, Good Morning Football, will be moving from New York to Los Angeles.

To say the press release sent out by the league with details of the news was bizarre would be a severe understatement.

For starters, the release pointed out that GMFB just had its most-viewed season since 2017. The release also boasted that GMFB’s ratings were up 16% in 2023 over the previous season.

So why move the show and mess with what’s working? Bizarre.

The release also mentioned that GMFB was going on hiatus beginning March 29 and that the show would relaunch later in the summer or in the preseason.

So your popular morning show won’t be on the air during one of the biggest sporting events of the year, the NFL draft, which begins April 25? Bizarre.

The release also rambles on about a new syndicated version of GMFB.

“When the show relaunches in LA, it will feature a two-hour extension series which will be syndicated. The extension series is a second/separate show which will have its own title/etc., and will not air on NFL Network.”

So this will be an extension of GMFB, but will have its own title and not air on NFL Network? Bizarre.

What was most bizarre about the release, though, was that there was no mention of Jamie Erdahl, Kyle Brandt, Jason McCourty and Peter Schrager, the four hosts of Good Morning Football and the reason why many NFL fans love the show.

Obviously, when you hear a show with four New York hosts is moving across the country, the first thought anyone is going to have is, will the cast remain the same? Yet, the release didn’t even include the hosts’ names.

A source told me it’s not yet known if any or all four cast members will be making the move to L.A. Erdahl, Brandt, McCourty and Schrager have been invited to join the new iteration of the show on the West Coast, but no decisions have been made by any cast members. A source indicated that the cast found out about the show moving nearly 3,000 miles away not long before the story was broken Wednesday morning by Sports Business Journal.

That means the NFL Network is prepared to move forward with the show whether any of the cast members move to L.A. or not.

This is problematic for several reasons. The cast is being asked to uproot their lives and move their families across the country. If any of the hosts decide not to make the move, the NFL Network will just plug new people into their roles. That’s harsh and shortsighted. A huge reason why any show succeeds is chemistry. Good Morning Football has it. The immensely likable cast has a connection with its viewers. That is not something that should be taken for granted in this day and age of media oversaturation. Maybe things will work out and all four cast members will stay with the show. Hopefully, that’s what happens and the only thing that’s different about GMFB is the vibe by being out in L.A. instead of New York City. But maybe not. And that’s the biggest bummer in all of this.

The show has gotten lucky because it has had to replace original cast members, Nate Burleson and Kay Adams, over the years, and the changes ended up working out as well as could be expected with McCourty and Erdahl seamlessly fitting in. But that doesn’t mean swapping out cast members will work again. It’s also a crummy way to treat people, but sadly that’s the sports media business.

Sources also indicated that there’s a strong chance the show will get cut from three hours to two and air from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. ET. This means the cast will be live on the air at 5 a.m. local time each day. Ouch.

So here you have a successful show with a great cast that is coming off a strong season featuring multiple ratings increases and the NFL Network is ready to move it across the country and possibly lose one, two, three or all four hosts. It just doesn’t make sense. It’s bizarre and frustrating, especially as someone who has been a loyal fan of the show since its start.

Yes, frustrating. Because the reason all this is being done is, of course, money.

I’m fully aware that the NFL Network is not the NFL. The money that the league makes for Roger Goodell and its owners is different from the money made by the NFL Network. But I’m supposed to believe the NFL is having such financial issues that they need to tighten the NFL Network belt?

The league just got $120 million from Amazon to air one playoff game next season. This is after the NFL got $110 million from Peacock to air a playoff game this past season.

Goodell is making $64 million a year.

The league’s salary cap jumped from $224.8 million per club in 2023 to $255.4 million in ’24.

And never, ever forget the TV deals that the NFL signed with the networks in 2021.

The league generates all this TV money, yet it is ready to make massive changes to a successful show and move it into its West Coast studio because it doesn’t want to pay rent for a New York studio. 

Bizarre.

2. A brand-new episode of SI Media With Jimmy Traina dropped this morning and it features an interview with legendary ESPN personality, Bob Ley.

Ley shares memories of NFL reporter Chris Mortensen, who passed away last week, and explains why Mort was so special to so many people.

Ley also weighs in on the state of sports media, whether he feels he got out at the right time when he retired in 2019, ESPN's addition of Pat McAfee and how Stephen A. Smith gets the "Jordan Rules" treatment.

Ley also explains why cutting the cord was one of the first things he did when he retired, how he keeps up with the day-to-day sports news and what he’s been doing in retirement. Ley, who is a New York Mets fan, also finds out during the podcast that the Mets will have a dance team this year, which generated quite a response.

Following Ley, Sal Licata from WFAN and SNY joins Jimmy for the weekly “Traina Thoughts” segment. This week’s topics include functioning without football, the NFL combine, muting people on Twitter, A&E’s great shows on WWE history, the passing of comedian Richard Lewis and more. 

You can listen to the podcast below or download it on Apple, Spotify and Google.

You can also watch SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Sports Illustrated’s YouTube channel.

3. I know there are many people who think the Kelce Brothers are a tad overexposed these days, but I assure you, this clip is worth 40 seconds of your time.

4. We had a very notable gambling moment Wednesday night. The Tennessee Volunteers were 5.5-point favorites against the South Carolina Gamecocks. With the Vols up 7, the Gamecocks threw down a dunk as time expired. However, the refs said the dunk did not count. Sure looked to me like it should’ve counted.

I also have to point out that ESPN play-by-player Tom Hart did a bad job here by saying, "the follow slam means nothing." Oh, it meant a lot, Tom. A LOT.

5. The simplest of pranks can be the best pranks. On a recent morning at the Atlanta Braves’ camp, pitcher A.J. Minter put a fake snake on the end of a fishing line and watched in glee as his teammates came to the ballpark and encountered the reptile.

6. A few months ago, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo said Shaquille O’Neal was the fifth-best center in NBA history. Shaq seems to still be upset about this—on his podcast this week, Shaq basically said that Russo isn’t allowed to have an opinion because he didn’t play in the NBA.

7. RANDOM VIDEO OF THE DAY: Happy 60th Birthday to comedian Wanda Sykes, who was responsible for one of my all-time favorite Curb Your Enthusiasm scenes. 

Be sure to catch up on past editions of Traina Thoughts and check out SI Media With Jimmy Traina on Apple, Spotify or Google. You can also follow Jimmy on Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.

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Jimmy Traina
JIMMY TRAINA

Jimmy Traina is a staff writer and podcast host for Sports Illustrated. A 20-year veteran in the industry, he’s been covering the sports media landscape for seven years and writes a daily column, Traina Thoughts. Traina has hosted the Sports Illustrated Media Podcast since 2018, a show known for interviews with some of the most important and powerful people in sports media. He also was the creator and writer of SI’s Hot Clicks feature from 2007 to '13.

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