NYC Radio: Mike Francesa Staying With WFAN

Mike Francesa

Mike Francesa said Tuesday that he no longer is seeking to leave WFAN 660 AM / 101.9 FM before his contract expires at the end of 2017, in part because of an improvement in his strained relationship with CBS Radio, WFAN’s parent company.

“I have come to the conclusion there is no way to do anything but play out my contract,” he told Newsday. “I’ve come to the conclusion, and the company has made it clear, that that’s what they want to happen, and there really is no other way to deal with it.”

Francesa said “a lot of the disputes that we had have been rectified in one way or another, so we don’t have anything hanging over our heads right now.”

One of the biggest was Francesa’s frustration over his simulcast arrangement with Fox Sports, which often preempted him or moved him from Fox Sports 1 to the less-well-distributed Fox Sports 2.

Francesa’s show left Fox in September, and since then it has been widely speculated he would land elsewhere on television, with MSG believed to be the most logical choice.

But Francesa said there are “no developments” on that front and that it is possible if no acceptable deal comes along there will be no simulcast at all.

Francesa said he has not considered his next step beyond Dec. 31, 2017. “I’m not looking one day past that,” he said. “Time goes very fast. Two years is a very short time in our business. As you get older you find out how fast time goes.”