Colin Cowherd moves herd to television with daily ESPN2 show

ESPN Radio personality Colin Cowherd ventures into television with a new ESPN2 show that debuts at 3 p.m. July 6. “SportsNation” is modeled after ESPN.com’s SportsNation, where fans interact with athletes, coaches, sportswriters, commentators and each other in real time. Michelle Beadle will be co-host.

 “The fans will have unprecedented input in the show’s daily rundown,” said SportsNation coordinating producer Jamie Horowitz. “Our goal is to bring the fan into our production meetings. The fans choose the topics, provide the angles, and decide how much Brett Favre talk is really needed.”

Fans will be able to interact with the hosts before, during and after the show by e-mail, text, Twitter or just making a phone call.

“SportsNation will really have three hosts – Colin, Michelle and the fans,” Horowitz said. “We are counting on the fans’ commentary and feedback to make the show unique. I’d like to rely on Colin, but he doesn’t listen to anything we tell him.”

Said Cowherd, host of the “Herd with Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio, “I’m stunned management let me do a TV show. I know what the producers and I find interesting and funny – and it leads me to conclude that we probably won’t be on the air very long.”

ESPN2 also will be simulcasting the second hour of ESPN Radio’s “Scott Van Pelt Show” from 2 to 3 p.m. Mike Tirico, who has co-hosted the show, will focus on a variety of other network opportunities.

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