This is very similar to the Monday Night Wars in wrestling, when WCW started to sign all the old WWE talent and then went head to head with them in the ratings.
ESPN and FS1 aren’t as close as WWE Raw and WCW Nitro were, but the premise is the same including making similar shows.
Exhibit A….
FS1 is launching a daily “PTI”-style show with Jason Whitlock and Colin Cowherd within the month, according to sources. The Monday-Friday afternoon show, which carries the working title “Speak for Yourself,” will be an opinion-based studio show that will anchor FS1’s weekday afternoon block. It is not clear whether the show will compete head-to-head with ESPN’s long-running “PTI,” which produces the highest ratings for ESPN outside of live games. FS1’s show will be produced out of Fox Sports’ L.A. studios.
The show might be actually more similar to 1st Take, but we won’t know what wrinkles they add until it debuts.
Will you watch?