Paul Finebaum and ESPN have been synonymous for a very long time, as the longtime college football analyst has built on his esteemed career at the network since joining forces with ESPN in 2013.
But Finebaum’s contract at ESPN is running out, and his time at ESPN might be, too. Finebaum’s contract at the network runs through the 2026 college football season, and the longtime host of his own radio show who’s spread his wings into a notable career on TV is apparently unsure about his future at ESPN.
During a recent appearance on the Awful Announcing Podcast, Finebaum confirmed that ESPN pulled him from its programming in 2025 after he told OutKick‘s Clay Travis that he was thinking about running for U.S. Senate as a Republican. ESPN had denied that Finebaum was being pulled, but Finebaum said on the podcast that he was indeed sidelined from the network.
Aside of the controversial sidelining of Finebaum, according to him anyway, there is the big picture of one of the network’s longtime fixtures not being there to talk college football on any of his multiple platforms on ESPN when the 2027 college football season dawns.
Finebaum didn’t ultimately go into politics, as he had thought about doing, but he said his future at ESPN is murky with his contract expiring next summer, before the 2027 college football season. Although Finebaum said on the podcast that he “feels pretty good” about his relationship right now with ESPN, it doesn’t mean there will be a new contract in the offering.
During the podcast, here is some of what Finebaum said about his future at ESPN:
I don’t know yet. The contract technically runs out in July, but I’m a college football analyst. So at the end of January, I will probably start contemplating exactly what is next. But I would be foolish to tell you anybody who is in the last year of a contract doesn’t think about it. Troy Aikman thinks about it, so does everyone else. But I would be foolish to tell you I know what I’m going to do next.
Besides following the 2026 college football season, fans of Finebaum have another thing to follow apparently, as he ponders his next move — stay at ESPN with a new contract in hand or head elsewhere to talk all things college football in 2027?
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
