Hall of Fame receiver Michael Irvin’s TV limbo is apparently over.
According to John Ourand in Sports Business JournalIrwin agreed to a deal on Monday to join the rotating cast of FS1’s Indisputable.
The move comes more than six months after Irvin was removed from NFL Network’s Super Bowl-week coverage over allegations made by an employee at the hotel where he was staying in Arizona. Before now, Irvin’s status with the league-owned broadcast network remained unresolved.
An NFL Network spokesperson did not respond to an email sent this morning asking about Irvin’s condition.
One possible assumption is that Irvin will exit the NFL Network. However, he is not the first person to work simultaneously for Fox and NFLN.
From time to time, reports surfaced that he was still suspended from the league. As I said last Friday on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas, at some point the the process should be terminated.
The league needs to put him on the air, or fire him. Either Irvin did something that warranted quitting the job, or he didn’t. A suspension lasting more than half a year makes no sense.
It remains to be seen if his time with the NFL Network is up, and if it will be voluntary or involuntary.
Irvin has denied all allegations, and is aggressively pursuing legal rights against the hotel that caused the events that led to his suspension. Irvin has not initiated public proceedings regarding his status with the NFL Network.
He certainly has (or had) a contract with the NFL Network, and that contract likely contains language that applies to the situation.
Putting aside whether Irvin did or did not say anything inappropriate to the hotel employee who complained, there is a fair question whether the NFL has any jurisdiction over the off-duty conduct that resulted in no civil or criminal charges, and no allegations of any kind. of harmful physical contact. If, at worst, Irvin said something he shouldn’t have said in a conversation in a public place with a non-coworker, how does that justify doing anything? in the league?
That doesn’t make it right, if he says something wrong. But how can the league take such aggressive action against an employee of their media operation who simply said something he should not have said, especially since the league looked the other way in the alleged or actual out- field misconduct by many owners?
This is not a defense of anything Irvin said, if he said something he shouldn’t have said. This is a common understanding of his employment status. If the league thinks he did enough to warrant firing him, the league should do it. If the league doesn’t think he should be fired, then the league should reinstate him.
At this time, it is not clear if the book closes his time on the NFL Network. What is clear is that, every Ourand, Irvin will start a new chapter at FS1.