The reality is that the NY Times was going to have him focus on politics, with the odd foray onto TV to promote his own brand. Or, he could sign up with ESPN/D

The reality is that the NY Times was going to have him focus on politics, with the odd foray onto TV to promote his own brand. Or, he could sign up with ESPN/Disney, and do sports on ESPN, politics on ABC, and so on. He'll have a much broader level of impact at ESPN/ABC. I suspect NY Times just couldn't match that.