No hate for the guy. I respect his grind...just find him funny. 
Adam Schefter signs an extension with ESPN
Sometime in the near future you are going to be watching an NBA game on ESPN or ESPN2 and the person on the sideline is going to produce a double take.
Yes, that is Adam Schefter.
As part of a new five-year extension with ESPN, Schefter and ESPN management have added some new assignments for the longtime NFL insider.
They include:
• A new podcast tentatively titled "Know Them From Adam: The Adam Schefter Show” that will debut in January.
@ the title
• Some NBA sideline reporting assignments during the regular season when Schefter’s NFL workload is light.
• A sideline reporting assignment (with Lisa Salters) for ESPN/ABC’s 2017 NFL Wild Card telecast.
The context for this? Schefter’s ESPN contract was up in 2017 and his representation (Schefter is represented by The Palm steakhouse-eating folks at CAA, who rep many high profile ESPN-ers including Kirk Herbstreit, Tim Tebow and Hannah Storm) had leverage given Schefter has established himself as a premier brand when it comes to NFL news breaking. Adding NBA sideline work and a podcast to Schefter’s portfolio were clearly things to induce him to stay at ESPN.
“I love what I do but you are always curious to try different things,” Schefter said. “I know people think of me as this robot who doesn’t do anything outside of NFL news, injury reports, contact extensions, and hirings and firings. I love all that stuff but everyone likes to do things a little different or outside the box.”
In an interview with this column on Wednesday, Schefter said he’s been talking for some time to ESPN management executives, including Connor Schell, the network’s executive producer for original content, about doing a podcast. The weekly show will be football-based and personality driven, with Schefter interviewing people from all fields including the NFL. While a reporter at The Denver Post, Schefter did a longtime column under the header of “Know Him From Adam” where he interviewed people from all walks of life who had a sports connection (e.g. singer Sarah Mclaughlin as a Raptors fan). Schefter has designs on reaching out to many people including President Elect Donald Trump about his football connections, among other well known figures. “There are certain things that get your juices flowing and big stories in the NFL get my juices going, but they have gotten my juices going for 26 years,” Schefter said. “This is something new and fresh. I am going to love it.”
The other new wrinkle is NBA sideline work, which Schefter first revealed to The MMQB’s Peter King during a podcast this week. But the NBA will be strictly one-off assignments. Schefter repeated multiple times during his interview with SI.com that he does not want anyone inside or outside ESPN to think he is taking gigs away from ESPN’s regular NBA sideline reporters.
Schefter’s close friends at ESPN know this but most do not: Schefter has become a hardcore NBA junkie. He plays daily NBA Fantasy and following the NBA has become somewhat of a pleasurable obsession.
To wit, he’ll often reach out to ESPN NBA staffers Brian Windhorst and Antonio Davis just to talk the sport. He also counts Clippers point guard Chris Paul as an acquaintance. Paul calls Schefter for Fantasy Football advice; Schefter asks Paul about his league.
“I went from knowing nothing about the NBA a couple of years ago to knowing every player on every roster,” Schefter said. “It’s become a side hobby and the bosses are aware of that.”
Schefter declined to comment on any specifics relating to his contract negotiations but did say, “I want to make it very clear in no way am I looking to infringe on the turf of someone like Doris Burke, Rachel Nichols, J.A. Adande, Marc Stein or anyone else. They do a great job. That’s not what this is about. I could never do their jobs. This is just me doing an assignment where it will be 100 percent fun to me. My job is great but it is also intense and relentless.”
Viewer reaction to Schefter on the NBA sidelines will be interesting. (Schefter was a sideline reporter for the NFL Network for two years in the early days of that network’s Thursday Night Football presentation.) He has marinated in basketball reporting (he has some NBA sources) in small doses, and recalled being amused at how people told him, in essence, to stay in his own lane.
“One of my proudest moments at ESPN was filing a couple of years ago that Dwight Howard was going to make his [free agency] decision by a certain date,” Schefter said. “People were like, Adam Schefter? What the hell is this?”
Adam Schefter signs an extension with ESPN
Sometime in the near future you are going to be watching an NBA game on ESPN or ESPN2 and the person on the sideline is going to produce a double take.
Yes, that is Adam Schefter.
As part of a new five-year extension with ESPN, Schefter and ESPN management have added some new assignments for the longtime NFL insider.
They include:
• A new podcast tentatively titled "Know Them From Adam: The Adam Schefter Show” that will debut in January.
@ the title• Some NBA sideline reporting assignments during the regular season when Schefter’s NFL workload is light.
• A sideline reporting assignment (with Lisa Salters) for ESPN/ABC’s 2017 NFL Wild Card telecast.
The context for this? Schefter’s ESPN contract was up in 2017 and his representation (Schefter is represented by The Palm steakhouse-eating folks at CAA, who rep many high profile ESPN-ers including Kirk Herbstreit, Tim Tebow and Hannah Storm) had leverage given Schefter has established himself as a premier brand when it comes to NFL news breaking. Adding NBA sideline work and a podcast to Schefter’s portfolio were clearly things to induce him to stay at ESPN.
“I love what I do but you are always curious to try different things,” Schefter said. “I know people think of me as this robot who doesn’t do anything outside of NFL news, injury reports, contact extensions, and hirings and firings. I love all that stuff but everyone likes to do things a little different or outside the box.”
In an interview with this column on Wednesday, Schefter said he’s been talking for some time to ESPN management executives, including Connor Schell, the network’s executive producer for original content, about doing a podcast. The weekly show will be football-based and personality driven, with Schefter interviewing people from all fields including the NFL. While a reporter at The Denver Post, Schefter did a longtime column under the header of “Know Him From Adam” where he interviewed people from all walks of life who had a sports connection (e.g. singer Sarah Mclaughlin as a Raptors fan). Schefter has designs on reaching out to many people including President Elect Donald Trump about his football connections, among other well known figures. “There are certain things that get your juices flowing and big stories in the NFL get my juices going, but they have gotten my juices going for 26 years,” Schefter said. “This is something new and fresh. I am going to love it.”
The other new wrinkle is NBA sideline work, which Schefter first revealed to The MMQB’s Peter King during a podcast this week. But the NBA will be strictly one-off assignments. Schefter repeated multiple times during his interview with SI.com that he does not want anyone inside or outside ESPN to think he is taking gigs away from ESPN’s regular NBA sideline reporters.
Schefter’s close friends at ESPN know this but most do not: Schefter has become a hardcore NBA junkie. He plays daily NBA Fantasy and following the NBA has become somewhat of a pleasurable obsession.
To wit, he’ll often reach out to ESPN NBA staffers Brian Windhorst and Antonio Davis just to talk the sport. He also counts Clippers point guard Chris Paul as an acquaintance. Paul calls Schefter for Fantasy Football advice; Schefter asks Paul about his league.“I went from knowing nothing about the NBA a couple of years ago to knowing every player on every roster,” Schefter said. “It’s become a side hobby and the bosses are aware of that.”
Schefter declined to comment on any specifics relating to his contract negotiations but did say, “I want to make it very clear in no way am I looking to infringe on the turf of someone like Doris Burke, Rachel Nichols, J.A. Adande, Marc Stein or anyone else. They do a great job. That’s not what this is about. I could never do their jobs. This is just me doing an assignment where it will be 100 percent fun to me. My job is great but it is also intense and relentless.”
Viewer reaction to Schefter on the NBA sidelines will be interesting. (Schefter was a sideline reporter for the NFL Network for two years in the early days of that network’s Thursday Night Football presentation.) He has marinated in basketball reporting (he has some NBA sources) in small doses, and recalled being amused at how people told him, in essence, to stay in his own lane.
“One of my proudest moments at ESPN was filing a couple of years ago that Dwight Howard was going to make his [free agency] decision by a certain date,” Schefter said. “People were like, Adam Schefter? What the hell is this?”