NFL Experts Weigh in on Fox Sports’ Pam Oliver About-Face: There Was a ‘Drumbeat of Bad Press’
A sports reporter and a crisis management pro explain to TheWrap what may have sparked the decision to put Oliver back on the sidelines
Tony Maglio and Debbie Emery | March 11, 2015 @ 6:41 AM
Last Updated: March 11, 2015 @ 12:23 PM
Fox/NFL
Fox Sports reporter Pam Oliver is returning to the NFL sidelines for two more seasons, but not without controversy.
Following a surprise demotion in 2014 when she was moved from the “A team” with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman to the second tier, Oliver revealed Monday in an interview with Sports Illustrated that following what she thought was her “farewell tour,” she is actually being reinstated on the “B team” sidelines for the remainder of her contract — a development that shocked the veteran journalist herself and many in the sports world.
“I couldn’t have been more surprised by this announcement,” Sports Business Journal media reporter John Ourand told TheWrap Tuesday.
From the vantage point of sports crisis management expert Michael Bilello, CEO of Centurion Strategies, Fox Sports made a calculated business decision.
“Fox is doing what is best for the product,” Bilello said. “Pam has a genuine presence, rapport and history with the players and broadcasters. She is seasoned, she is talented and is good at what she does.”
The move paved the way for the newly-acquired “Dancing With the Stars” co-host Erin Andrews to take the top spot — which led some to wonder if this was a case of swapping out an African-American woman in her 50s for a younger, Caucasian female.
Ourand says the situation caused a “drumbeat of bad press,” especially after Oliver, who turned 54 on Tuesday, admitted she was “hurt” and humiliated. “It’s not difficult to notice that the new on-air people there are all young, blonde and ‘hot,‘” she told Essence.
TheWrap was told Tuesday that neither Oliver nor Fox Sports President Eric Shanks were available for interviews.
“It’s like in sports — it is not a big deal to put someone new in to do a job who is younger and fresher, and then realize that the more experienced voice is better,” Bilello explained.
“I see this as two very talented broadcasters working for a media giant that makes decisions [based] on ratings, viewer feedback and things we are not privy to.”
Oliver will now be back on the sidelines for the 2015 and 2016 NFL seasons with sportscasting duo Kevin Burkhardt and John Lynch.
And while admittedly it was a “tough decision” to move Andrews into Oliver’s former position on Fox’s A team, Ourand believes it was simultaneously a “legitimate” one.
“Fox made a huge investment with Erin Andrews, and it’s logical that they would want her as their top sideline reporter for their top sport.”
In terms of that large investment, it is very possible that Andrews had a clause in her sizable contract requiring that she join the main team by a certain date, Ourand speculated.
An insider told TheWrap that if it was not explicitly stated in Andrews’ contract when Fox Sports poached her from ESPN, it was surely implied that the high profile hire would join Buck and Aikman by the start of the 2014 NFL season.
All a Fox insider would say regarding Oliver’s return was, “She gelled with her new team and had a terrific season, which senior management noticed. She was approached about coming back to work with the same team, and after giving it some thought, agreed. That’s really all there is to it.”
Shootings, Stabbings, Dog Fighting: 11 NFL Scandals That Rocked the League (Photos)
After signing a five-year, $40 million contract extension with the New England Patriots, Aaron Hernandez had a spectacular fall from grace in June 2013, when his friend Odin Lloyd was fatally shot and his body dumped in an industrial park near the tight end’s Massachusetts home. Hernandez was subsequently charged with first-degree murder and later indicted for a 2012 double-murder. He was quickly dropped by the Patriots and is currently in prison awaiting trial, facing life without parole.
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The NFL’s most-notorious defendant, OJ Simpson went from being a Pro Bowl quarterback and "Naked Gun" star to being America’s most wanted when he came the prime suspect for the brutal 1994 murders of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman. Following the “trial of the century,” the former Buffalo Bills and San Francisco 49ers player was acquitted, but is currently serving time in a Nevada prison for armed robbery and kidnapping.
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Chad Johnson and “Basketball Wives” star Evelyn Lozada’s 2010 reality TV wedding was marred when the former wide receiver was arrested a month later for domestic battery for allegedly head-butting his new wife. Lozada quickly filed for divorce and Johnson avoided jail time with a year-long probation, but was fired by the Miami Dolphins in an embarrassing stand-off that aired on HBO’s “Hard Knocks.”
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Aldon Smith of the San Francisco 49ers was arrested for DUI in 2012 and then received stab wounds that June when a fight broke out at his house party, during which two other people were shot. Next up was crash when he was allegedly under the influence of marijuana, and finally this year a bizarre event at Los Angeles airport when he allegedly told a TSA agent that he had a bomb. Smith is sitting out for the first nine games of the 2014 season.
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Ray Rice’s former teammate was embroiled in a scandal of his own when Ray Lewis and two of his colleagues were indicted for a January 2000 murder that occurred after a fight at a Super Bowl party. The Baltimore Ravens linebacker negotiated a plea deal and got 12-month probation and $250,000 fine, and even went on to win another Super Bowl. His companions, Reginald Oakley and Joseph Sweeting, were later acquitted and the killer has never been found.
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Michael Vick was implicated in an illegal interstate dog fighting ring that had operated for five years. The quarterback pleaded guilty in 2007 and served 21 months in prison for the crimes against canines at Bad Newz Kennels, and has since returned to the field with the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Jets.
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Dez Bryant’s troubled childhood included his mother being arrested for dealing crack cocaine when he was 8. Their relationship remained volatile, and in July 2012 the Dallas Cowboys wide receiver was arrested after allegedly hitting her in the face during an argument. He later went through counseling and told a Dallas Men Against Abuse event, “I’m done with domestic abuse.”
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After bouncing between teams as a wide receiver, Donte Stallworth’s darkest hour came in March 2009 when he hit and killed a pedestrian while driving on a Miami Beach causeway in the early hours of the morning. Stallworth had a 0.12 alcohol level and tested positive for marijuana, leading to a charge of DUI manslaughter. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail, 1,000 hours of community service and eight years probation, along with settling a civil case with the victim’s family.
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Now back playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Ben Roethlisberger was suspended without pay for the first six games of the 2010 season for violation of the NFL's personal conduct policy after “Big Ben” was accused of sexual assault on two separate occasions by different women. Charges were later dropped, but Steelers owner Art Rooney was reportedly “furious” at his star player.
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Cherica Adams was eight months pregnant with Carolina Panthers’ Ray Carruth’s child when she was shot four times in her car, calling 911 and naming the wide receiver as the one of the assailants. After both Adams and the unborn baby died, Carruth fled police and went on the run, before finally being found hiding in the trunk of a car in Tennessee. He was later sentenced for murder but escaped the death penalty.
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Adam "Pacman" Jones was suspended for the 2007 season, losing a total of $1.3 million in salary, for repeated violations of the NFL's personal conduct policy — including an altercation in a strip club when he allegedly pulled a dancer off stage and attacked a security guard, who was later shot by a member of his entourage and paralyzed from the waist down. Jones was charged with one count of felony coercion, one misdemeanor count of battery and one misdemeanor count of threat to life. He later signed with the Dallas Cowboys but was again involved in an incident with his bodyguard at a Dallas hotel.
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Ray Rice’s brutal elevator attack on his now-wife is the latest disturbing violent incident to plague the NFL over the decades
After signing a five-year, $40 million contract extension with the New England Patriots, Aaron Hernandez had a spectacular fall from grace in June 2013, when his friend Odin Lloyd was fatally shot and his body dumped in an industrial park near the tight end’s Massachusetts home. Hernandez was subsequently charged with first-degree murder and later indicted for a 2012 double-murder. He was quickly dropped by the Patriots and is currently in prison awaiting trial, facing life without parole.