New details emerge about Rich Eisen’s return to ESPN in September

With Rich Eisen moving back to ESPN beginning in September, The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand provided new details about his show. The Rich Eisen Show will air national from 12 noon ET to 3 p.m. ET beginning September 2nd.

It’ll be the staple of ESPN Radio in less than two months and also appear on Disney+ and ESPN+. The four-letter-network’s direct to consumer app is set to debut this fall.

Currently, Joe and Q, with Joe Fortenbaugh and Qiant “Q” Myers is at 12:00 p.m. ET. That show will be disbanded with the two focusing on other roles on the network.

Unsportsmanlike with Evan Cohen, Chris Canty and Michelle Smallmon (6-10 AM) and Clinton and Friends, with Clinton Yates, (10-12 PM) will remain the same as the lead in programming. Eisen will be on at the same time as The Pat McAfee Show as that show is licensed to lineal television and streamed on YouTube. As far as other stars on the network, Stephen A. Smith will go straight from First Take on TV to his new Sirius XM show on Mad Dog Radio that will, ironically, compete with Eisen’s show on ESPN.

Marchand also reported Eisen will host his own podcast for ESPN that is yet-to-be-named. It’ll center around him interviewing former SportsCenter colleagues. 

Back in 2003, Eisen left ESPN for NFL Network to become the face of the channel. He will remain the featured host on NFL Network’s GameDay and NFL Draft coverage, per Marchand. The esteemed host will also call select regular season games for NFL Network.

Eisen wasn’t the only one approached about an ESPN return. ESPN tried luring Fox Sports host Colin Cowherd back to its airwaves this year.

ESPN is currently in advanced talks for NFL Media and that means the partnership between Eisen and the network could grow. All of this comes ahead of ESPN’s direct to consumer service nears launch.

Eisen has previously licensed his program, which began in 2014, to numerous networks. It aired on NBC Sports and Peacock before moving to Roku in 2022. It was also distributed by Westwood One across the country on radio and aired on Sirius XM.

Eisen worked for ESPN from 1996-2003 and was known for his part of a duo with Stuart Scott on SportsCenter. He joined NFL Network shortly thereafter, becoming a staple of the network.