Sports
ESPN gives Mike Breen multi-million contract extension after NBA booth blowup – New York Post
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ESPN decided to break up its longtime NBA Finals team this offseason, firing both Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, but its lead play-by-player, Mike Breen, is not going anywhere, The Post has learned.
Breen, 62, has agreed to a four-year, multi-million-dollar extension with ESPN to go along with the final two seasons that he has left on his current deal with the network, according to sources.
During the summer, Van Gundy and Jackson were let go by ESPN during the network’s layoffs.
Breen is now partnering with Doc Rivers and Doris Burke on the lead NBA team this season.
Breen and Rivers are very close friends, even vacationing with each other in the offseason, Rivers has said.
Burke will make TV history in June as the first woman analyst on the NBA Finals.
They debut last week as they try to build the chemistry that Breen, Van Gundy and Jackson developed in becoming one of the best broadcast trios in sports.
The new deal for Breen is contingent on ESPN/ABC retaining the rights to the NBA. The current national deals with Disney/ESPN and Warner Bros. Discovery/TNT expire following next season.
ESPN is seen as a favorite to keep its package, which includes the Finals, though it may end up with fewer regular-season games. Amazon, Apple and NBC are among those that are expected to vie for the rights with ESPN and TNT.
If ESPN keeps the Finals every season through 2026-27, Breen would be scheduled to be on the call for the league’s top event for 22 years.
Besides calling a full schedule for ESPN, Breen remains the voice of the Knicks on MSG.
ESPN already has a succession plan in place after Breen, according to its head of NBA production, Dave Roberts.
In August, Roberts anointed Ryan Ruocco, JJ Redick and Richard Jefferson as the No. 2 team and indicated they would be in position to be promoted to the No. 1 spot at some point. Ruocco is already ESPN’s lead WNBA and women’s college basketball voice.
Roberts did not give a timetable for the change, but now Breen is locked in for four more years, including this one.