Chris Russo says he doesn’t want to be Mike Francesa’s successor
Scratch one potential successor to Mike Francesa from the office pool.
Chris Russo, Francesa’s partner of 19 years in afternoon drive time at WFAN, said Thursday that he does not see himself as a candidate for the job that Francesa says he will leave at the end of 2017.
“I would think that probably I would not want to go back there from this perspective: Mike and I put our legacy on that for so long,” Russo said. “Do I want to go back there now and get involved in that? That almost cheapens what Mike and I did.”
As Russo spoke, Francesa sat beside him at Radio City Music Hall, where the two met with Madison Square Garden officials to plan the “Mike and the Mad Dog Reunion Show” on March 30, a benefit for the Garden of Dreams Foundation.
Russo had left open the door to returning to WFAN when he told the station's Craig Carton and Boomer Esiason last month that he would listen if asked.
When Russo said, “Who wouldn’t like to be considered?” Carton pressed, asking if he would like the job.
Russo responded, “I said, ‘Who wouldn’t?’ I mean that’s an ego thing, right? Everybody wants to be considered.”
On Thursday, Russo said, “I know I’ve hinted, because people put me on the spot constantly. ‘How about you? How about you?’ It’s in the papers. Carton and Boomer put me in trouble with that. But it would cheapen it.”
Russo, 56, said going back now, after Francesa had worked solo since 2008, would raise the question, “Why didn’t we do this together, for crying out loud? So I don’t see myself doing that.”
Russo’s contract with Sirius XM Satellite Radio expires late this year.
Francesa said he would have no problem with Russo succeeding him. “Listen, there would be no discussion,” Francesa said. “It’s his real estate. He owns it. That would be logical . . . I never thought he would do it, to be honest with you. I never thought Dog would go back . . . I’m sure he’ll be working somewhere prominently, but I never thought he’d be doing that.”
Francesa and Russo also are to appear at FrancesaCon on Saturday and are the subject of an ESPN “30 for 30” documentary planned for next year.
But what about a reunion of a more regular sort?
“I’m not retiring, but I have no idea what I’m going to do,” said Francesa, who will turn 62 later this month. “I want to have a blank page. I’ve been under contract for 30 years . . . I want to not be under contract for a couple of minutes just to see what’s out there. I don’t know what the future is going to hold . . . His contract’s coming up first, so he’s going to have to make some decisions before I have to do anything.”
Said Russo: “Mike and I are going to have plenty of time to discuss possibilities if in fact we wanted to do something following Mike’s scenario there after 2017. But he’s right. We have not discussed it.”
Russo joked that he might “leave something open” in his next contract to allow him to work with Francesa again. “I’ll leave a little clause in there,” he said.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
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