Wojnarowski one of the first significant sports 'insiders' to step away from the spotlight

 

[September 21, 2024]  By JOE REEDY

Adam Schefter was surprised the first time he heard his friend Adrian Wojnarowski was considering retiring from his job as ESPN’s NBA reporter.

When Wojnarowski announced his decision Wednesday, though, he wasn’t.

That’s because Schefter is part of a small circle in sports media that knows what the job of being an insider entails.

“To me, you don’t do these jobs. You live these jobs. And Woj was done living the job. He wanted to live his life,” said Schefter, who has had an NFL Insider role for 21 years, first at NFL Network and since 2009 at ESPN.

Wojnarowski, whose breaking news reports on social media had their own nickname, dropped the mother of all Wojbombs when he announced his departure from ESPN for the newly created position of general manager of the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball program.

During a news conference scheduled Wednesday at the upstate New York campus, he will discuss the decision to return to his alma mater.

“He’s been at the top of his craft for so long, we all looked up to him,” said Pierre LeBrun, the NHL insider for Canada’s TSN and senior columnist for The Athletic. “I mean, he was the insider with the capital I in our industry. And, to be able to park that now and start something completely different is really impressive.”

Wojnarowski’s decision to be one of the first significant insiders to leave on their own and try something new is also surprising because some thought it might have happened sooner.

“It’s a tough job. You’re tethered to your cell phone,” said Bob Thompson, the retired president of Fox Sports Networks who runs his own consulting group. “You cannot afford to take a break for fear of someone else posting before you do. And, it’s got to grind on you.”

Schefter talked to Wojnarowski about possibly doing one more NBA season or finishing out the remainder of his five-year contract before walking away. But in the end, that’s not what he wanted.

“Knowing him, he is an incredibly proud person, incredibly principled,” Schefter said. “All of us are in this universe where weekends and holidays don’t exist. That’s the way it is for a lot of professions, not just this one. But in this day and age of social media where news cycles have been sped up to record speeds, it’s taxing on everybody.

“All of us recognize the price you pay and the sacrifice it commands. But very rarely do you see someone say, ‘I’m done with this.’ And that’s basically what he’s done now. This was not him taking leave, taking a sabbatical, or taking a break. This was him saying, ‘I’m done with the news business.’"

When Schefter and Wojnarowski started their journalism careers, the pinnacle most aspired to was to be a sports columnist. The decline of newspapers, the rise of social media, and investments by companies in electronic media have now made being an insider the highly coveted position.

The insider’s role and prominence changed with the rise of social media. Along the way, the quality of the information was replaced by who was the first to tweet breaking news.

Recognizing its importance, sports divisions have made significant investments in trying to get the top insiders. Wojnarowski signed an extension with ESPN in 2022, where he averaged $7 million a year.

This undated image provided by ESPN shows ESPN NBA insider's Adrian Wojnarowski. (Allen Kee/ESPN via AP)

“If you’re an insider, the company that you work for is leaning into you heavily. Information spreads instantaneously. When you have something that you’re allowed to share that no one else has for a moment in time and you have access to the platforms, that’s why you’re making $7-$10 million a year,” said Patrick Crakes, a media consultant and former Fox Sports executive.

NFL on Fox insider Jay Glazer pointed to the personal toll the job can take. Glazer, who has covered the NFL for 32 years, with the last 21 coming at Fox, recounted instances of refereeing his kid’s soccer game or being at a restaurant and having a Bluetooth device in his ear so he didn’t miss a call.

“If I don’t have something that no one else has, I still get really hard on myself because I have a responsibility to the guys (on "Fox NFL Sunday”). Like, those are my brothers,” he said. “That pressure has never waned. Sometimes, if I don’t have the best stuff or something I miss, I get really down. I still make a billion calls. I don’t ever think someone will call me because it doesn’t work like that. It is out of sight, out of mind. You got to work those phones more than anybody else.”

Glazer and Ken Rosenthal — the insider for MLB on Fox and in his senior columnist role for The Athletic — have tried to counter that. Both still break news but focus on the quality of information and try to ensure it resonates for longer than a couple of minutes.

“The immediacy gave many of us more exposure and advanced our careers. Woj was the extreme example of that. But being first to a transaction by one minute, two minutes, five minutes is not the reason I entered the business. Nor is it really journalism,” said Rosenthal. “In the last few years, I’ve tried to place more emphasis on writing stories, actual stories, that included news in some form, but could not be confirmed within minutes. ... Not worrying quite as much about breaking every transaction helps. I’m fortunate to work at an outlet that places less value on such ‘scoops,’ understanding they are not all that meaningful.”

Glazer pointed to a conversation with his bosses at Fox 10 years ago where they told him to focus on the big stuff.

“The job doesn’t have boundaries. So I guess the thing is, for my own happiness, I have put up my own boundaries,” he said. “Not only were Fox with it, they suggested it. Because they cared about my mental health more than anything. I’ll still have my home runs, and people respect me enough that it won’t get stolen.”

Whoever replaces Wojnarowski at ESPN will have the pressure of replacing a legend. Glazer — who texted Wojnarowski after his announcement saying, “It has been an honor to watch you put yourself up there on the Mount Rushmore of Insiders" — has the same advice for everyone starting out.

Don’t get anything wrong; there is plenty of news for everyone.

“Just hold yourself out higher. I think that people want the immediacy more now than the accuracy. And that’s concerning,” he said.

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