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🏈 Roger Goodell addressed employees as NFL Network officially becomes part of ESPN today.

🏈 Layoffs are hitting Pro Football Focus on the content side after the sale to Teamworks.

🏈 The NFL is continuing its push into flag football by launching a partnership with TMRW Sports, the group behind TGL.

🎙️ Mike Golic Jr. announced his time is done at FanDuel, bringing an end to the Golic & Golic show.

📺 Stephen A. Smith says Cam Newton isn’t going anywhere at First Take in spite of the Jason Whitlock interview controversy.

📺 In a true “Wag the Dog” scenario, Fox and Sinclair are now complaining to the FCC about live sports on streaming after FCC chair Brendan Carr said it was a problem.

Read more of today’s top stories at Awful Announcing.

When ESPN hired Jason Kelce, it was one of the biggest talent acquisitions, both in salary and in star power, in recent memory. The future Hall of Famer had just completed a fantastic career with the Philadelphia Eagles. But more importantly, he had proven himself to be a multi-dimensional personality by hosting one of the world’s most popular podcasts with his brother, Travis, at New Heights.

When ESPN hired Kelce, a lot of us observing the landscape expected him to take a central role in the network’s football coverage - this generation’s answer to John Madden. A former lineman who could articulate the game in a new and entertaining way and be a transcendent football analyst.

We couldn’t have been more wrong.

Kelce’s NFL contributions at the network have been quite limited, mostly to his weekly Monday Night Countdown appearances, where he is a supporting cast member. It’s beyond that where ESPN is getting the most out of Jason Kelce.

There was his experimental late-night show (which may or may not come back), he showed up on NHL coverage, and now he’s becoming a part of golf with his TGL appearance and upcoming assignment at the Masters Par 3 contest.

From the outside, it seems pretty random. And it seems like maybe ESPN doesn’t know how best to use one of its highest-paid stars.

But maybe we’ve all missed the forest for the trees, and this is exactly what both Jason Kelce and ESPN want.

It’s much like the ManningCast in the way that it’s not what anyone envisioned when imagining a media career for Peyton and Eli Manning. Any network would write a blank check to either (see Brady, Tom) to come in and be a top analyst week in and week out. But it’s what they are happy to do in showing up for most weeks during the NFL season to do their own thing.

The truth is, Kelce doesn’t really need the ESPN assignment. He still hosts New Heights and can probably get any endorsement deal he wants on top of all the other opportunities that come his way.

If his passion is showing up in totally unique roles in places you wouldn’t expect, because that’s what he wants out of his ESPN career, then more power to him. And if he doesn’t want to grind film like Dan Orlovsky or be the next Troy Aikman, then that is his prerogative. If ESPN feels that his name recognition and popularity can draw viewers to some of these other sports and help lift other telecasts, then they will see it as a success.

So maybe it’s time to start thinking of Jason Kelce as more of a personality than a football analyst. As much as football diehards may long for him to break down the intricacies of o-line play, it looks like he would much rather enjoy a day out at Augusta National.

He is ESPN’s everyman, showing up at any and every sporting event and living the ultimate fan experience. One day, he could be at the Masters, the next day, he could be at College GameDay taking his shirt off with Pat McAfee. Maybe he’ll show up at a baseball game with a mic in the crowd. Or smashing through tables with Bills Mafia again. Maybe he’ll try the late-night thing again. Maybe he will host a game show one day.

The possibilities for Jason Kelce are endless as his ESPN career evolves, but they just won’t be what any of us expect.

Ever wonder what it would sound like to hear Joe Buck do hockey play-by-play? Now we know!

NBC NFL rules analyst Terry McAulay is not afraid to share his opinion on officiating controversies, even when it comes to NCAA refs’ handling of Dan Hurley.

Ernie Johnson covering World Cup soccer?!? Yes, that was something that actually happened.

"In a lot of people’s eyes in America, he’s gotten away with a lot, and they’re sick and tired of it." - Stephen A. Smith on Tiger Woods, who announced he is stepping back from public life to enter rehab.

“I believe in myself. And look, Canuck fans deserve people covering this team who are truthful and honest.” - Trevor Beggs responded to the ongoing saga around his writing about the Vancouver Canucks.

“My guess is the league won’t want to take that risk.” - Chiefs CEO Clark Hunt doesn’t think Kansas City will be the Seahawks’ opening week opponent with Patrick Mahomes’ uncertain availability.

With the demise of the RSN industry, sports leagues are increasingly looking to centralize local rights. And it looks like Major League Soccer won’t be far behind.

MLS’s deal with Apple expires in 2029. And with all the conflicting narratives about the deal's successes and failures, Major League Soccer has to be preparing for what its future could look like.

One of the hallmarks of the Apple deal was that the streaming service would air every game of every team, thereby completely remaking the professional sports broadcast model. In some ways, it was a preview of what was to come across the industry. So it’s no surprise that whatever comes next for MLS, it probably won’t include a future where local rights go back to the clubs.

NYCFC president Brad Sims admitted as much at a Sports Business Journal conference this week.

“I don’t see that ever happening again,” Sims said. “We were better off financially in a model where we could have local rights. I don’t know that that’s best for the league as a whole, as an enterprise. I think that what was done, and how it was built, is probably the best path.”

We already know that teams are confronting a new reality in which less money is being generated from local rights deals. Although MLS sees most of its support from local fanbases, it’s fair to say there is a ceiling to what the league and its teams can earn in the future. By going with Apple, the league realized it could reach many more potential fans and subscribers by making the world’s game accessible across the globe. Having Lionel Messi certainly helped in that endeavor.

But in a post-Messi, post-Apple world, MLS might feel as though it has to lean on a similar broadcast model to make its business work, as it confronts the same reality that its peers across the sports world have already done with local rights.