Mike Francesa: Fox Sports 1 'destroyed the continuity' of WFAN simulcast
Mike Francesa is shown in his home in Manhasset on Thursday, March 13, 2014. Credit: Newsday / Chris Ware
Mike Francesa said on the air Thursday he would be willing to take less money to have his WFAN show simulcast on Fox Sports 1 more consistently but insisted the matter is out of his hands.
Francesa's show was simulcast Thursday, but the ongoing problem arose when two callers asked him about it during the first hour of the show.
"I can't discuss it," he told the first caller. "It's out of my hands. It's been taken out of my hands . . . The point is I can't add to it because I am no longer part of the negotiation. I have nothing to do with it. It's out of my hands now."
When the caller suggested he "run as quickly as possible" from Fox Sports 1, Francesa said, "How would I do that? I can't do that. I have a contract."
Told by the caller that the simulcast preemptions -- most often for live soccer coverage -- have been bad for his brand, the host said, "I totally agree, but it's not the point. I have to be here every day. If I'm here it's going to be on TV.
"What do you want me to do? I can't leave. I have a contract to honor. I have a contract. I understand that . . . I've already raised all those things many times that you've brought up. There's nothing you can say that I haven't said.
"But I am no longer in charge of its destiny. I wasn't anyway but I'm no longer even an active part of the destiny. Again, all I can do is show up and do what I do. I have a contract. There's nothing I can do.
"I have a contract with both places, with FAN and with Fox, so that's it. There's nothing I can do. So I'm at their whim. Like next week we're on once. There's nothing I can tell you. It's not my scheduling."
When a second caller followed up by agreeing with the first, Francesa said, "Listen, we are never on. I understand that. Listen, they have destroyed the continuity of a simulcast that was on [YES] for 12 years. I understand that. We all agree. None of us are disagreeing.
"Listen, do you know how many letters and calls I've had? I get it everywhere I go. Now when I go anywhere all I hear is this. That's all I hear. If I go into an office building the secretary says it to me. They stop me on the street and say it to me. No matter where I go that's all I hear about is that you're never on."
When the caller described Francesa's simulcast as iconic, he said, "Listen, I appreciate that and they've disrupted that and I really do feel bad for the audience. I didn't ask for anything except for the audience to be protected here. I didn't ask for any more money."
Asked why his Sunday morning NFL show is not simulcast on TV, he said, "Because I don't own the right to put it on. It's been sold.
"I do get the money, which I can't say I don't because I do. But I'd take less and put it on every day, but I can't do anything about it. There's nothing I can do."
CBS Radio, which owns WFAN, declined to comment on Francesa's remarks.
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.
