Mike Francesa still has something to say, and it'll be heard on Rush Street Interactive podcasts
Mike Francesa visits the simulcast from the SiriusXM set at Super Bowl LI radio row at the George R. Brown Convention Center on Feb. 2, 2017, in Houston, Texas. Credit: Cindy Ord
Mike Francesa said he “found I still had something to say.” He just did not want to say it for anything close to the 27 ½ hours he used to spend talking in the afternoon on WFAN.
So instead for his first regular, post-WFAN media job he signed this week to do a pair of hourlong podcasts each week for Rush Street Interactive, a gaming company that runs the BetRivers and SugarHouse sports books.
“Let’s be honest: It’s not what I would call heavy lifting,” Francesa told Newsday. “I don’t have to go anywhere. I have a studio in my home . . . But I think it’s right. It’s a way to get back in a little bit. I’m looking forward to doing that.”
Francesa left WFAN for good in 2020 but was contractually limited in doing other media work until Jan. 1 of this year.
Rush Street saw in him a chance to draw attention in New York in the crowded sports betting field, where nine sports books were granted licenses and eight are actively taking bets.
Francesa saw a chance to learn more about the podcasting segment of the media business while keeping his schedule and other options open.
One podcast will be whatever Francesa wishes to talk about, the other will be football-themed during that season and baseball-themed now, with former Mets manager Bobby Valentine joining him.
The first podcast is scheduled to post Monday night. Brian Monzo, Francesa’s former WFAN producer, will work with him on the podcasts.
Beyond that, Francesa said, he will voice radio spots and make personal appearances for the company.
Despite his employer being a betting site, he will not tailor his show to that subject, although it will come up, as it did during his WFAN days.
“It’s not going to be where we’re going to be discussing analytics and trends and breaking down theories about sports and gambling,” he said.
Francesa, 68, does have a lifelong interest in gambling, and he worked closely with Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder, television’s first sports gambling star. He even played a bookie in the 2019 Adam Sandler film, “Uncut Gems.”
But since the Supreme Court in 2018 opened the door to an expansion in legal sports betting, it has become an increasingly and unapologetically regular part of sports programming.
“I will not hide from any of it,” Francesa said. “I will be far more open about it than I have been in the past, that’s for sure.”
One of his sporting and betting interests always has been horse racing. He got a personal reminder of its vagaries on March 5, when the horse he co-owns, High Oak, fell during the Fountain of Youth Stakes in Florida.
High Oak was not seriously hurt, and Francesa hoped he would make a bid to qualify for the Kentucky Derby by doing well at the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 9.
But recently trainer Bill Mott informed High Oak’s owners the spill had set back the horse’s training schedule and he would not be ready for the Wood without risking his health.
The hope now is to run him in the Pat Day Mile on the Derby undercard May 7 and then perhaps in the Preakness Stakes two weeks later if he performs well.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Francesa, who long has dreamed of entering a Derby horse with a chance to win. “It’s completely, absolutely heartbreaking.”
But he tried to be philosophical.
“We’re lucky we didn’t lose the horse,” he said. “We have to look at it that way – that we have a horse that we still think can be a champion.”
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.
