On Thursday afternoon, Sports Illustrated is reporting that CBS college basketball and NFL broadcaster Gus Johnson will leave the network after the two parties could not agree on a new deal. SI's Richard Deitsch also reports that Johnson is a possible candidate to call college football games for Fox.
Industry sources said Johnson has spoken with Fox Sports about a role in its college football coverage. Fox Sports (which has a 49 percent ownership share in the Big Ten Network) recently upped its inventory of college football as part of the 12-year, $3 billion contract between the Pac-10 (soon to be the Pac-12) and ESPN and Fox.
According to the report, Johnson had been considered for a play-by-play position on NFL Network, which announced Thursday that ESPN's Brad Nessler had been hired to fill the role.
Over his 16-year career as a play-by-play man for CBS Sports, Johnson has emerged as one of the most recognizable voices in American sports broadcasting. The 43-year-old Johnson, who also calls MMA matches for Strikeforce, is known best for his unconventionally excitable demeanor behind the microphone.