Nate Silver Is to Join ESPN Staff

[octoberlib]

Published: July 19, 2013

Nate Silver, the statistician who attained national fame for his accurate projections about the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, is parting ways with The New York Times and moving his FiveThirtyEight franchise to ESPN, the sports empire controlled by the Walt Disney Company, according to ESPN employees with direct knowledge of his plans.

At ESPN, Mr. Silver is expected to have a wide-ranging portfolio. Along with his writing and number-crunching, he will most likely be a regular contributor to “Olbermann,” the late-night ESPN2 talk show hosted by Keith Olbermann that will have its debut at the end of August. In political years, he will also have a role at ABC News, which is owned by Disney.

An ESPN spokeswoman declined to comment on Friday night. Mr. Silver declined to comment. The employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Mr. Silver’s deal could be announced as soon as Monday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/20/business/media/nate-silver-blogger-for-new-york-times-is-to-join-espn-staff.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

[malaise]

1. Olbermann and Silver

I'll be there.

[octoberlib]

2. Me too and I never watch ESPN. NT

[Brother Buzz]

3. It should prove to be a good pairing

Considering they are both baseball nerds.

[AtomicKitten]

4. Keith contractually cannot talk politics. nt

[Auntie Bush]

5. But can Nate Silver do all the talking about politics?

Or can Silver talk politics on Olbermann's program on his own accord? What they gonna do? Turn off his mic or quick jump into a commercial? Probably the latter.

[onehandle]

6. Sadly, I have no interest in sports and am supporting the effort to make it optional on cable.

$10 of your cable bill goes to ESPN and Fox Sports. Whether they are in your package or not.

I want ala carte video services.