Four years after making their move south of the border, Jay Onrait and Dan O’Toole have been let go by Fox Sports.
Could a return to TSN be in the works? The duo were a very, very popular feature of TSN’s SportsCentre programming. They brought a wry sense of humour to every project they were involved with and built a mass following.
FS1 cancels "Fox Sports Live;" Jay and Dan's contracts not likely to be renewed. Story coming in SportsBusiness Daily.
— John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) February 23, 2017
Here’s the thing: the sports news landscape has changed. Nightly highlights shows don’t do the numbers they once did. Fox Sports 1 in general struggled to pull numbers away from ESPN, and ESPN itself has seen its numbers decline overall. Onrait and O’Toole were hired to lead FS1’s main highlights show and the hope was their personalities would draw viewers away from ESPN. It didn’t work. American TV numbers just don’t work like they did at the height of the Olbermann/Patrick era.
The road to Hollywood: Jay Onrait and Dan O'Toole say goodbye to TSN
In __canada it’s a similar story, with TSN SportsCentre and Sportsnet Central both struggling to maintain their former footholds.
TSN doesn’t have an afternoon chat show anymore; they cancelled Off the Record with Michael Landsberg at the end of 2015. Sportsnet’s Tim and Sid has done alright in the afternoon time slot, especially during Blue Jays season ,and their demographic is skewed towards males 25-to-40. In the winter Tim and Sid pull in 50 to 60k. Blue Jays chatter pushes them closer to 100k in the summer time. They’ve had shows that have hit even higher on a one-off.
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When many overnight programs pull numbers that might as well be zero, target zones like the afternoon slot might be worth it.
In a weird way, losing the NHL might even have been to TSN’s advantage. Their budget may not be as big as it was, but it’s more flexible now. They don’t have to automatically commit resources to hockey.
Silver lining for @JayOnrait after cancellation of @foxsportslive — Hearing he will be returning to @TSN_Sports in Canada.
— jamesmiller (@JimMiller) February 23, 2017
With that in mind, there’s a good chance they chase one or both of their former SportsCentre stars to put up a show in the afternoon time slot to take on Tim and Sid. Jim Miller, who wrote the book on ESPN’s history and is regular media commentator, reports Onrait (at least) will be returning to TSN.
Jay Onrait is a CAA guy. Miller is a terrific reporter and wrote the book on CAA. So…… https://t.co/mFxxFXCZ6Y
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) February 23, 2017
The interesting twist, as noted by Sports Illustrated’s media reporter Richard Deitsch, is Jay Onrait is represented by powerhouse agency CAA. If Onrait were to return to his old stomping grounds, it wouldn’t be for nothing.
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