That was her signature assignment by the end of her tenure, and ESPN will have to decide what’s next. Taylor had worked her way up from a mix of responsibilities to hosting NBA Countdown beginning in 2019. However, even after waves of cost-cutting casting aside on-air personalities, the network possesses a deep bench and has not needed to make panic hires to fill her other roles.Īlready, ESPN has announced that Holly Rowe will take on Taylor’s responsibilities as the sideline reporter on its Saturday night college football games.ĮSPN’s bigger decision will be what to do once basketball season arrives. It’s not as though Taylor did nothing of value at ESPN. The shot ESPN took at Maria Taylor is subtle Escaping that atmosphere surely goes into the win column for Taylor. The NYT story indicated that Taylor’s final months at ESPN saw colleagues choosing sides between her and Nichols. She will likely contribute to college and pro football telecasts this fall. Taylor left for NBC, which quickly added her to Olympics coverage. The clock ran out on her contract without the sides striking a deal. If that was supposed to apply the screws to ESPN to present Taylor with a huge raise and more prominent assignments, then it didn’t work. The New York Times acquired the audio and reported in detail on racially tinged strife at the network just as Taylor’s contract negotiations heated up. The story of a Nichols phone conversation with a friend, in which she all but accused ESPN of letting skin color influence assignment decisions, leaked out a year ago. | Ken Murray/Icon Sportswire via Getty ImagesĬynics don’t believe that a year-old story about ESPN reporter Rachel Nichols’ displeasure with the network picking Taylor for a lead position on coverage of the finals of the 2020 NBA playoffs resurfaced randomly. ![]() There was more than money behind Maria Taylor’s ESPN departure Maria Taylor reports from the sideline during the Allstate Sugar Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal between Ohio State and Clemson on Jan. That’s a heck of a parting shot at a rising star in the business in the eyes of many. Rather, ESPN isn’t going to bother replacing her. It’s not that the cable sports network can’t replace her. She left, and the sentiment seems to have changed. The buzz that Maria Taylor generated this summer as her contract negotiations came down to the wire might have led some to believe that ESPN executives didn’t think they could replace her.
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