The on-air relationship between Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic will continue through an undisclosed date later in 2017, as Mike & Mike will continue broadcasting in its usual morning slot on ESPN Radio for a few more months at least, but the off-air relationship between the long-time co-hosts has eroded to the point where the two reportedly don’t speak.
According to Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated, the tension comes from Golic’s side where he feels that Greenberg betrayed him by not telling Golic about his pursuits of a solo morning show. Golic’s displeasure with the situation and Mike & Mike being cancelled was apparent in the official announcement made by the two, when he insisted that it was “someone else’s story to tell” — which most can assume is meant as Greenberg — about why the show was ending at the end of the year.
Golic’s son, Jake, also went on a Twitter rant about the split, voicing his displeasure.
Deitsch had multiple ESPN sources claiming that the friction off-air has gotten extremely bad between the two, to where there’s almost no eye contact or conversation between the two until the show starts, when they act as if everything’s fine.
“It’s really a poisonous atmosphere right now,” said one longtime ESPNer who has worked on the show. “Most of us don’t see the show lasting through its contractual end [which is believed to be the end of December]. But I give both these guys immense credit because when the light comes on, you would not know what’s going on. They are pros on air.”
“They are marvelous actors on set,” said another ESPN on-air staffer, who speaks to both Greenberg and Golic. “But they barely even make eye contact with each other these days.”
A spokesperson for ESPN told Deitsch that the show would continue “into the fall” despite the concerns he heard from ESPN sources that the deterioration of their personal relationship would lead to the show ending prior to the contract running out on it in December.
Starting in January 2018, Greenberg will host a morning television show on ESPN, with Golic being joined by Trey Wingo and his son Mike Golic Jr. on a new radio show in the same time slot.
The rift between the two is a bitter end to an 18-year working relationship that saw the two become one of the staples of the sports radio circuit, as Golic feels as though Greenberg did him wrong by not being forward with his discussions with ESPN to move on to his own TV show.
It will be interesting to see how it plays out as they will apparently continue to work together for months, despite their suddenly non-existent off-air relationship.
