If you’ve ever wondered if Jon Gruden would consider leaving ESPN’s Monday Night Football broadcast booth in order to return to coaching, we can now consider that a bit of a long shot. If James Andrew Miller is to be believed — and he should be, because he’s the co-author of Those Guys Have All The Fun: Inside the World of ESPN and has been a source for insider information within Bristol for years — Gruden takes in roughly $6.5 million annually for his work at the network.
.@richarddeitsch @Timhedus In a word, Gruden. $6.5 Million — give or take a few pennies.
— james andrew miller (@JimMiller) September 29, 2015
For comparison’s sake, what Gruden makes off the field is roughly what a middling veteran wide receiver or linebacker would make on the field. In fact, according to Spotrac, his salary from ESPN is roughly equal to that of Eric Decker’s and Marques Colston’s. In addition, he makes more money than 26 current NFL head coaches. Only Pete Carroll ($8M), Sean Payton ($8M), Bill Belichick ($7.5M), Andy Reid ($7.5M), John Harbaugh ($7M) and Tom Coughlin ($7M) make more annually than Gruden. It’s not clear how much time it takes to prepare for a weekly broadcast, but we have to assume it’s nowhere near the amount of time an NFL coach takes to prepare for an upcoming game.
To ESPN, he must be worth it, and at the very least, he’s provided stability to a position that had seen quite a bit of turnover in the decade before his arrival in 2009. He knows the league, he knows the players, and he knows how to report the game in a way that doesn’t alienate the audience. With a contract that runs for six more seasons, we can expect to continue seeing Gruden in the booth for years to come.
(Via For The Win)
