In the 50-minute podcast, ESPN’s Adam Schefter explains how he went from thinking he was going to work in his family’s five-and-dime store the rest of his life to becoming the most prolific NFL insider ever. He details the steps that got him to ESPN, how he does his job, what irks him and how he sometimes wants to be let out of “his cage.”
Here’s what you need to know:
To listen to the entire 50-minute podcast, become a paid subscriber at AndrewMarchand.com
How scheduling a podcast with Schefter during the head coaching carousel is a juggling act
Growing up, Schefter watched all the New York teams, while being a voracious reader of The Post, Times and Newsday
He would wait for his dad to come home from work to tell him about the latest trade and free agent stories
His family had a five-and-dime shop that he thought he would work in the rest of his life and never thought sports media was an option
How Schefter got rejected by a fraternity, the football and basketball offices at Michigan that led him to the newspaper
How Mitch Albom meant so much to him and his career
Bo Schembechler getting red-hot mad at him
How he found Jalen Rose’s father, Jimmy Walker’s number in 24 hours for Albom’s classic “Fab 5” book
How thinking about his start in Denver and covering the Broncos makes him emotional
How amazing the access, including eating breakfast with John Elway, with the Broncos was so instrumental in his career development
How he thought he was going to be a beat writer for his whole life as he didn’t go to NFL Network until he was 38
How an NBC Broncos’ feature by Gayle Gardner that Schefter participated in was a big problem and resulted being sent to Dan Reeves’ office
How Pat Bowlen and Eric Weinberger were influential in bringing him to NFL Network
How he almost didn’t go to NFL Network, but they told him they envisioned his job being like Peter King and Mike Lupica
How after he fell in love with TV because he didn’t have to transcribe anymore
How he didn’t want to leave NFL Network for ESPN,
What happened with the million dollar ask of NFL Network
How Chris Mortensen was so important to his arrival at ESPN
When ESPN hired Schefter he did not have a Twitter account
ESPN hired him to be on the new 9 a.m. SportsCenter and write a little. That’s it.
How he couldn’t believe he was on Sunday NFL Countdown with Chris Berman and company
What is the story he is most proud of
How do you create sources, which includes regular calls from coaches on their way home from work
How many phones does Schefter have
How many hours does he work per day
How the job takes over your life
Peter Schrager puts out a statement and Schefter got into trouble for it
Does he want to retire like Woj? He did get some questions about other jobs on the day Woj left
His talks with Woj before Woj retired
What’s the value of transactions five minutes before they are announced
How he was ahead on Ben Johnson to the Bears, where others said Raiders and his heated response to critics
How he loves to escape the “cage” that ESPN has him in and do NBA or maybe one day do golf
How he would have done the pod at 2:15 a.m.
Related pods: Bomani Jones … Chris Russo … Ramona Shelburne
Sponsor: WSC Sports … Tell them Marchand sent you
On-deck Tuesday: “Marchand & Meterparel: Everybody Loves Sports Media”
Subscribe at AndrewMarchand.com
