Alex Rodriguez signs extension with Fox Sports, will leave ESPN

The ever-polarizing Alex Rodriguez has signed a contract extension with Fox Sports, according to Alex Weprin at The Hollywood Reporter. 

Although the exact details weren't available, Weprin reports that Rodriguez signed a deal that not only keeps him with Fox for at least three more years but makes him the highest paid baseball analyst on television. The new deal also means that A-Rod will be exclusive to Fox, and that he will leave ESPN at the end of the 2023 Major League Baseball season.

Rodriguez began his analyst career while still a member of the New York Yankees in 2015 and 2016, working as part of Fox's postseason coverage. His insights brought new life to Fox, helping its studio shows gain Emmy nominations in 2016 and 2017. ESPN hired Rodriguez on as an analyst for "Sunday Night Baseball" in 2018, but he still worked on Fox's studio show. With an overhaul of "Sunday Night Baseball" and ESPN's baseball coverage overall, Rodriguez was pulled from the broadcast booth and placed in an alternate broadcast with Michael Kay, the Yankees' play-by-play announcer and ESPN Radio host, in 2022.

There are three sides of this deal to consider. For Rodriguez, he gets to work with his friends on a full-time basis and work full-time for a network that has wrapped its arms around MLB in a way that ESPN hasn't for some time.

Although his work has drawn more criticism than fawning over the last few seasons, baseball fans have seen that A-Rod's true persona comes out a bit more when he's been able to bounce off of another former player. Perhaps with this in mind, Fox hopes that it finally has baseball's version of "Inside the NBA," the iconic studio show that has been a staple of TNT for ages. (Although one sports TV legend may feel differently.)

Fox, a network that has never shied from star-chasing, may see new opportunities now that it has A-Rod solely for themselves. Per Weprin:

"Fox has made a point of tapping superstar athletes that also have broadcasting skills to bolster the network’s sports coverage. In addition to Rodriguez, Jeter and Ortiz on its MLB games, the network also hired Tom Brady to join its NFL broadcast booth, beginning next year. Its NFL team includes former stars like Michael Strahan and Rob Gronkowski, while its World Cup soccer coverage includes U.S. legend Alexi Lalas.

"The network also cross-pollinates its sports programming, bringing its MLB stars to some of its NFL coverage (Jeter made his Fox debut on Fox’s Super Bowl pre-game show), and its NASCAR coverage."

ESPN, meanwhile, can check off another name on its list of highly paid contributors as the cost-cutting edict from Disney remains in effect. From the layoffs to non-renewals of several contracts, the biggest brand in sports media has one less big salary on the books, at least once 2023 comes to an end. The network has diminished its baseball coverage for several years, and letting Rodriguez walk is another sign of how much its willing to spend to support its game telecasts at the moment.