ESPN has been making major moves lately from a business standpoint. In fact, the company's recent acquisition of the NFL Network paved the way for the return of one of the Disney-owned brand's earliest stars. Rich Eisen returned on Monday to host SportsCenter for the first time in twenty-two years and, unsurprisingly, he paid tribute to his old friend and former co-host, Stuart Scott. Needless to say, it was all quite emotional.
Rich Eisen left SportsCenter (and ESPN as a whole) in 2003 to join the NFL Network. With that, Stuart Scott -- an anchor with a long career -- continued to host the show until his death from cancer in 2015. When Eisen returned to his seat on the aforementioned show, the commentator addressed the elephant in the room and paid tribute to the man he sat alongside for so many years. Take a look:
It's surreal to see that iconic commercial featuring the late Kobe Bryant and realizing that at this point, two of the three stars in that ad are no longer with us. It's a sobering reminder of the fragility of life, and I'm honestly sad over the fact that both Bryant and Stuart Scott are gone. Also, I empathize with Eisen in that he must grapple with the fact that he misses his good buddy.
ESPN has paid tribute to Stuart Scott many times over the years, but I'd argue that the way in which Rich Eisen did it was truly personal and sentimental. For those who can't pull themselves to watch the video, here's the bulk of the tribute, spoken by the broadcaster below:
We all know there should be someone else right here in this chair next to me. Right there, as he was for my seven years in the role he referred to as my 'TV wife.' And that's my dear late friend Stuart Scott, who is indeed looking over my shoulder tonight. I frequently think of Stuart a lot and what he might think of the sports headlines of the day. Like, say Bill Belichick being the head football coach at his beloved school. We used to host SportsCenter's after LeBron's high school games, so what would Stuart think of James still playing at 40 with 40,000 points? And with all these new sports crossing of TV streams, like ESPN buying NFL Network and partnering up with my daily show, what would it look like if Stuart sat in with Ernie, Shaq, Kenny, and Charles?...I could go on and on, because I miss Stuart so much. He should be in that chair, with me, with us, tonight.
Even if it was expected that Rich Eisen would say a few words about Stuart Scott, it's still touching and a bit sad to hear him speak from the heart about missing him. SportsCenter will always be a little worse off for no longer having "Booyah" or other fun words and phrases being uttered by the great Scott.
As far as what's next for Rich Eisen after this return to SportsCenter, ESPN has plans for him to appear across its other programming (via USA Today). On top of that, The Rich Eisen Show will be a part of programming exclusive to ESPN+, and the host will still maintain his current duties over on NFL Network. In short, Eisen's going to be all over the network, it seems, so fans will have multiple opportunities to watch him.
On a larger scale, ESPN is making some major moves and trying its best to maintain its tagline as the "Worldwide Leader in Sports." The acquisition of the NFL Network also came with the rights to the NFL RedZone channel, which follows all the action as it unfolds on Sundays during football season. It was also recently announced that ESPN will be home to all future WWE Premium Live Events, with the agreement set to begin in 2026.
Catch SportsCenter on ESPN daily. I doubt most episodes will be as emotional as the recent one with Rich Eisen, but don't be surprised if the sports world generates another tear-jerker of a moment in some way down the road.
