FOX’s sideline saga has a new twist now that Pam Oliver has opened up about being knocked off the network’s “A” team for Erin Andrews.
Oliver wrote a first-person essay for Essence in which she details the painful process of being demoted to make room for Andrews, who was hired two years ago from ESPN. Andrews was a big get for FOX, and Oliver, now 53, felt the weight of inevitability.
“Colleagues, and even coaches and players, would come up to me and say things like, ‘Boy, you’re handling this well. You’re really a class act,’” she writes for the magazine.
“But I let the rumors roll off my back. Without official confirmation about a change in my position, I decided I was going to do my work like I always had. Still, I was humiliated.”
FOX executives met with Oliver in her hometown of Atlanta in April to discuss their decision to give Andrews the sideline gig with Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. Oliver claims she was then told she would be moved to Fox Sports 1 before convincing them to let her do her 20th season on the sidelines with Fox’s “B” team of Kevin Burkhardt and John Lynch.
Oliver doesn’t take any direct shots at Andrews, but it’s pretty clear who she thinks is more fit for the job.
“As one executive said to me, Fox Sports will look radically different in the coming years. I assume that means they want to look younger,” Oliver said.
”It’s not difficult to notice that the new on-air people there are all young, blond and ‘hot.’ That’s not to say that Erin isn’t capable. I think she’s very capable. She’s also popular on Twitter and social media, so I can see how that would also make her highly sought after. Still, covering the NFL is a big deal. Stations like ABC and NBC entrust their programming to veterans. So when people talk about all networks making a turn to a particular type of girl on the sidelines, it doesn’t hold water.”
Oliver details the depression she went through after that April dinner, including a full-out sob-fest during “Apollo 13” (nothing to be ashamed of there).
“When I look back at that time, I feel embarrassed that I was so emotional,” Oliver said. “Among my friends I’m the tough girl. I am not a crier. But I realize I was in mourning. I had to let it go.”
She has since rebounded and said she is looking forward to her new role.
“Don’t get me wrong, I love being on the sidelines,” she wrote. “I love the ins and outs of the game. But I’m headed into this season knowing it’s time to say my goodbyes. I’m going to savor every moment.”