Chris Berman to retire after the 2016 season

[andrew8798]

ESPN sportscaster Chris Berman is retiring after the 2016 football season.

Berman is in the final year of his contract, according to The Big Lead, and is expected to retire rather than find a new network.

The sportscaster has been with ESPN since 1979, joining the new sports network only a month after it was formed. ESPN has not yet announced who will replace Berman on the network's Monday Night Countdown or Sunday NFL Countdown shows. The Big Lead reports that NFL Live host Trey Wingo or Suzy Kolber could take over for the longtime sportscaster.

ESPN did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

-HWR

That leaves Bob Ley as the only one left from when ESPN started up

[Seth Drakin of Monster Crap]

Sad as he is another one of the guys that were around when I got into ESPN Sportscenter. As someone else said, Bob Ley really is the only one left.

[JTH]

Guess he decided it's time to work on that golf game.

[Mayonnaise]

Wonder if it is his own decision or ESPN telling him they cannot afford anymore lawsuits. Plus he probably isn't cheap.

[rocket]

Or ESPN is really that bad in financial straits.

Then again, the way he's looked recently he could drop dead very soon.

[Father Dougal McGuire]

It's going to be strange no hearing is voice recap games Sunday nights or his call on the HR Derby.

[sfvega]

I was a huge Berman fan in the 90's, who wasn't? But he's run through pretty much all of his goodwill he built up with the draft and just not being worth listening to. I think they might have trouble replacing him though, as a lot of their hires have pretty much sucked on the football front. Rich Eisen >>>>>

[Urethra Franklin]

Berman's rep is denying this. It sounds like ESPN is trying to force him out.

[No Name is needed Bro Beans]

Fox sports one will probably be back back back backing up the money truck to the berman household

[Clover Star]

May 27, 2016 12:39:02 GMT -5 Urethra Franklin said:

Berman's rep is denying this. It sounds like ESPN is trying to force him out.

Yeah, knowing how Berman is, he'll never actually retire in the traditional sense.

[No One]

I don't hate the guy, but I am glad he is leaving. He is too much sometimes.

[Father Dougal McGuire]

You know what was shocking to me, he is only 61. For comparison to his contemporaries, Bob Costas on NBC is 64, and James Brown on CBS is 65.



I thought he had to be in his early 70s, but Terry Bradshaw is 67.

[BRV]

His schtick became tired and annoying several years ago but I'd be lying if I were to say that I won't miss him. For all of his faults and his "back-back-back" and "THERAYDAHS", Chris Berman was the voice of the NFL during my formative years. For children of the 1970s and 1980s, he was my era's John Facenda. There were times in the 1990s when the Patriots were muck and I'd look forward to ESPN's NFL Primetime more than the games themselves and it was his voice that served as the chorus over the highlight reels.

[4TheGlory]

BACKBACKBACKBACKBACKBACK

[fuzzywarble, squat cobbler]

I hear that ESPN is forcing him out.

ESPN is awful anyway. I miss the days they were a legitimate sports network. Like back in 1989.

[JTH]

Funny that they want Boom to leave, and ESPN are the ones rumblin', bumblin', and stumblin'.

[andrew8798]

It confirmed this past week with him stepping down from NFL Countdown after the SB. Had to agree when someone said ESPN messed up by not having him and Jackson one last time on TV.

Like many said its end of an era for ESPN

[sfvega]

Jan 7, 2017 21:42:12 GMT -5 andrew8798 said:

It confirmed this past week with him stepping down from NFL Countdown after the SB. Had to agree when someone said ESPN messed up by not having him and Jackson one last time on TV.

Like many said its end of an era for ESPN

It really is a changing of the guard era for ESPN. Not just Berman, but Jackson and the passing of Stuart Scott. Kenny Mayne returned, but I don't even know what he does for them anymore. Tirico left after being there forever. Olbermann came back very shortly but is gone again. So many guys from their golden era are gone, and now I can only think of Ley, Ravech, and Levy who have been there since it was actually a quality channel with some journalistic integrity.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

He got annoying so it is fine. Should of kept Tirico tho.

[corndog]

Not my favorite guy, but I love his 2-minute drill and he has been with ESPN since it started.