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Report: ESPN mainstay Tom Rinaldi leaving for Fox Sports

ATLANTA, GA - JANUARY 08: Tom Rinaldi, an ESPN College Game Day reporter, on field prior to the CFP National Championship between the Georgia Bulldogs and the Alabama Crimson Tide presented by AT&T at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on January 8, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia.  (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Tom Rinaldi is out at ESPN. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

One of ESPN’s biggest on-air reporters is leaving the network.

Tom Rinaldi, who has been at ESPN since 2002 and conducts some of its most important interviews, has been hired by Fox Sports, according to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post.

With Fox, Rinaldi will reportedly be featured across all of its major events, including the Super Bowl, World Series, World Cup and, of course, various college football games. Such a position is natural for a man used across several sports by ESPN, especially college football, golf and tennis.

Rinaldi’s features on ESPN’s “College GameDay” were a frequent highlight, and his overall coverage has earned him 16 Sports Emmys according to ESPN. Rinaldi did everything from sideline reporting to documentary producing, and conducted the first interviews with Tiger Woods, Art Briles and Urban Meyer after each were hit by scandal.

Landing Rinaldi is a clear win for Fox, which will likely make him a major part of some of the biggest broadcasts in sports. It’s also the latest episode in Fox’s poaching of ESPN talent, as Marchand notes Adam Amin, Jonathan Vilma and Emmanuel Acho have all also left ESPN for the network.

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