Wojnarowski is one of the first sports “insiders” to step out of the spotlight
Adam Schefter was surprised the first time he heard that his friend Adrian Wojnarowski was considering retiring from his job as an NBA reporter for ESPN.
But when Wojnarowski announced his decision on Wednesday, he wasn’t.
That’s because Schefter is part of a small circle in the sports media that knows what being an insider entails.
“To me, it’s not a job you do. It’s a job you live. And Woj was tired of living his job. He wanted to live his life,” said Schefter, who served as an NFL insider for 21 years, first at NFL Network and since 2009 at ESPN.
Wojnarowski, whose social media posts had their own nickname, dropped the mother of all Wojnarowski bombs when he announced his departure from ESPN for the newly created job of general manager of the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball program.
At a news conference scheduled for Wednesday on the upstate New York campus, he will discuss the decision to return to his alma mater.
“He was at the top of his game for so long that we all looked up to him,” said Pierre LeBrun, the NHL insider for TSN in Canada and senior columnist for The Athletic. “I mean, he was the insider with a capital I in our industry. And to be able to put that aside now and start something completely different is really impressive.”
Wojnarowski’s decision to be one of the first major leaders to strike out on his own and try something new is also surprising, as some thought it could have happened sooner.
“It’s hard work. You’re tied to your cell phone,” said Bob Thompson, a retired Fox Sports Networks chairman who runs his own consulting group. “You can’t afford to take a break for fear that someone else is going to post before you do. And that has to weigh on you.”
Schefter discussed with Wojnarowski the possibility of playing one more NBA season or finishing out the remainder of his five-year contract before leaving. But in the end, that’s not what he wanted.
“I know him, he’s an incredibly proud, incredibly principled person,” Schefter said. “We all live in a world where there are no weekends and no vacations. That’s true for a lot of professions, not just this one. But in the age of social media, where news cycles are at record speeds, everyone is under pressure.”
“We all know the price and the sacrifice that goes into it. But it’s very rare that you have someone who says, ‘I’m done with this.’ And that’s essentially what he’s done now. It wasn’t about taking a leave of absence, or taking a sabbatical, or taking a break. He was saying, ‘I’m done with the news business.’”
When Schefter and Wojnarowski began their journalism careers, the pinnacle they most aspired to was to become sports columnists. The decline of newspapers, the rise of social media and corporate investment in electronic media have made insider status a highly coveted position.
The role and importance of insiders has changed with the rise of social media. Over time, the quality of information has been replaced by the question of who was the first to tweet the latest news.
Recognizing its importance, sports divisions have made significant investments to try to attract top insiders. Wojnarowski signed an extension with ESPN in 2022, where he earned an average of $7 million per year.
“If you’re an insider, the company you work for relies heavily on you. Information spreads instantly. When you have the right to share something that no one else has at a given time and you have access to the platforms, that’s why you’re making $7 million to $10 million a year,” said Patrick Crakes, a media consultant and former Fox Sports executive.
Jay Glazer, a regular on Fox’s NFL network, noted the personal toll the job can take. Glazer, who has covered the NFL for 32 years, including the last 21 for Fox, recounted instances where he’s refereed his child’s football game or sat in a restaurant with a Bluetooth device in his ear so he wouldn’t miss a call.
“If I don’t have something that nobody else has, I’m always really hard on myself because I have a responsibility to the guys (on “Fox NFL Sunday”). They’re my brothers,” he said. “That pressure has never let up. Sometimes if I don’t have the best equipment or something I’m missing, I get really depressed. I still make a billion calls. I never think anybody’s going to call me because that’s not how it works. It’s out of sight, out of mind. You have to use those phones more than anybody else.”
Glazer and Ken Rosenthal, Fox’s MLB insider and senior columnist for The Athletic, have tried to buck that trend. Both continue to deliver breaking news, but they focus on the quality of the information and try to make it resonate for longer than a few minutes.
“Immediacy has allowed many of us to get our names out there and advance our careers. Woj is an extreme example. But being the first to close a deal with a minute or two or five to spare is not why I got into this business. It’s not really journalism, either,” Rosenthal said. “In recent years, I’ve tried to focus more on writing stories, real stories, that have information in some form or another that can’t be confirmed in a matter of minutes. … It helps that I don’t worry so much about breaking every deal. I’m fortunate to work in a media that doesn’t give much thought to these ‘scoops,’ knowing that they’re not that significant.”
Glazer recalled a conversation with his bosses at Fox 10 years ago, where they told him to focus on the important things.
“This job has no limits. So I guess the point is, for my own happiness, I set my own limits,” he said. “Not only did Fox agree, they suggested it to me. Because they cared about my mental health more than anything. I’m still going to hit my home runs, and people respect me enough that I’m not going to steal them.”
Whoever replaces Wojnarowski at ESPN will have the pressure of replacing a legend. Glazer — who texted Wojnarowski after his announcement saying, “It’s been an honor to watch you rise up there on the Insiders’ Mount Rushmore” — has the same advice for anyone starting out.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of news for everyone.
“We need to stand taller. I think people now want immediacy rather than precision. And that’s worrying,” he said.
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