Why Did Rich Eisen Leave ESPN for The NFL Network? And Would He Ever Return?

After a long career at ESPN spanning from 1996 to 2003, fans were shocked when Rich Eisen left the network.

He went on to join the NFL Network as the upstart's first anchor, where he remains to this day.

But why did Rich Eisen leave ESPN in the first place? Here's what he has said about the transition, and whether there was any bad blood involved in his departure.

So, why did Rich Eisen leave ESPN? His role "changed" too much for his liking.

Speaking to TVNewser in 2015, Rich shed some light on why he decided that 2003 was the right time to make a big change in his life. As it turns out, changes were already happening — and they didn't really align with his sensibilities about his longtime role at the network.

"By the time I left ESPN in 2003, SportsCenter had become a far different show than the one I initially joined in 1996," Rich explained. "Thanks to the proliferation of information being consumed on mobile devices and the internet, management changed SportsCenter from being a show where highlights and storytelling ruled the day to a show where analysts ruled the day."

He went on to share that by the time viewers were tuning into SportsCenter , they had already seen the highlights of a game. " SportsCenter went from a show about WHAT happened to a show about WHY something happened, with a debate between analysts attached," Rich said.

That dynamic meant that a host's job changed entirely, according to Rich.

"I asked to do other things in addition to SportsCenter ," he confessed, adding, "When that was mostly refused by management in charge at the time, moving out to Los Angeles to be the tip of the spear of a new channel devoted to the NFL became a no-brainer."

What is Rich Eisen doing today?

Years after leaving ESPN, Rich hosts the aptly named program The Rich Eisen Show . You can find it streaming on Roku and SiriusXM.

He also hosted the NFL draft for the NFL Network for the 18th year in a row in 2024.

Given Rich's continued success, it seems like he did OK leaving ESPN. And there is definitely no bad blood there, with the host saying on the Bussin’ with the Boys podcast in August 2024 that he'd even consider a return one day!

“We have had conversations about it in the past, but it’s just never happened for various reasons. Like I said, I have no quarrel with them,” Rich said on the show.

“Part of me feels like that’s my DNA, is it started with ESPN, and they’re part of my career and obviously they’re as big as ever," he continued.

Rich also said, "And so I love so many people who are there, Stephen A. (Smith) and Pat (McAfee) … and I have nothing but love for everyone there. So they’re always going to be in my thoughts. All the time. But it’s never happened, it just hasn’t happened yet.”