ESPN, CBS, and Fox Sports 1 are reportedly in a bidding war to hire former Heisman Trophy winner and NFL quarterback Tim Tebow to be a college football analyst next year.
According to a report in TheBigLead, ESPN’s SEC Network, CBS Sports, and Fox Sports 1 want Tebow as an in-studio analyst.
ESPN’s SEC network will launch in August, and the network will reportedly have an SEC version of the popular College GameDay program with Rece Davis and Paul Finebaum, often referred to as the voice of Alabama and Southern football. The network would want Tebow to be the show’s Kirk Herbstreit to Davis’s Chris Fowler and Finebaum’s Lee Corso.
Tebow, who has not played in the NFL since being released by the New England Patriots in the preseason, does generate ratings and buzz, and TheBigLead notes that ESPN’s SEC network could use Tebow to ensure the new network gets picked up by cable providers. Fox Sports 1 and CBS Sports also want Tebow to improve their ratings.
Tebow’s agent is also Jimmy Sexton, who is known to create buzz for his clients (see: Nick Saban, Gus Malzahn) to get them more lucrative contracts.