The slim-down of FanDuel Sports Network Detroit’s workforce continues.
Mickey York, an on-air personality for the network for 25 years, most recently as a reporter and anchor covering the Detroit Pistons and Detroit Tigers, officially announced his exit from the regional-sports network Tuesday. York’s exit as a full-time employee has been in the works for several weeks, and it took effect at the end of the Pistons’ first-round exit in the NBA playoffs late last month.
The job has been a dream job for York, who grew up in Metro Detroit, in Mt. Clemens and Lake Orion, and graduated from Macomb Lutheran North and Central Michigan.
“Oh, yeah, for sure. Once I figured out I wouldn’t play professional football, I knew I wanted to be involved in sports in some way. This was the goal, I put all my eggs in one basket,” York said over the phone Tuesday afternoon. “I didn’t have a backup plan, and I still don’t.
“This was always going to be it.”
York, 55, is a casualty of the rapidly changing sports-media landscape, especially at the RSN level, which has battled significant financial woes for several years, amid the rapidly changing sports-consumption landscape.
Diamond Sports Group, parent company of FDSN Detroit and several other RSNs across the country, emerged from bankruptcy in early January, but has continued to explore significant cost-cutting. As part of several renegotiated rights deals, including with the Tigers and Pistons, the teams received much less money, but have taken over more control of the broadcasts.
The Tigers announced before this season they were changing the format of their broadcasts, with different-looking pregame and postgame shows, hosted, mainly, by Daniella Bruce, who is being paid by the Tigers. The Tigers said they were looking for a second reporter/anchor, and one hasn’t been announced yet, though Johnny Kane, a longtime staple on Tigers broadcasts, and Natalie Kerwin have filled in on the pregames and postgames.
Kane worked for FDSND through the Pistons’ season, and Trevor Thompson worked through the Red Wings’ season. Their future on Tigers broadcasts is unclear; they could work on a freelance-fee, per-game basis, paid by the team.
York’s exit follows the retirement of John Keating, who spent nearly 29 years with Detroit’s RSN ― first PASS, then Fox Sports Detroit, then Bally Sports Detroit, then FDSND ― before hanging it up at the end of the Red Wings’ season. Between York and Keating, they spent more than a half-century on Detroit sports broadcasts.
“To get to know people I grew up rooting for, people like the Alan Trammells of the world, Jack Morris, Dan Petry, those guys, gosh, from ’84; to work and cover the Pistons…,” York said. “I remember sitting in The Palace of Auburn Hills at the watch parties during the ‘Bad Boys’ days, and a couple years later, I’m in that locker room talking to those guys. I never lost the feeling of it being a little bit of an out-of-body experience, when I walk into a stadium or an arena, and go, ‘Wow, this is where I get to go to work.’ That feeling’s never gone away.”
York’s not exactly sure what the future holds. He said he’s too young to retire, and he’d like to stay in the business; there have been talks about working on a freelance basis for the Pistons broadcasts next season, though nothing’s final. It’d require a pay cut from his full-time status with FDSND ― which, aside from some on-air talent, also has let go multiple front-office workers, including longtime vice president and executive producer Jeff Byle. York is open to moving for the right job, but he has aging parents in Michigan, so he’d like to stick around here, all things being equal.
A car lover, York also owns and publishes the magazine Cruis’n, and he said he’s looking forward to giving that his undivided attention, for once, this summer.
On a personal basis, he’s not sure. He gave up golf years ago, deciding he wasn’t good enough, and he wasn’t mature enough to handle not being good enough. He might try pickleball; he and his wife took a lesson a while back, but never did get around to playing. He’ll mow the grass, and ride his bike. And whatever happens, happens.
For now, he’s left with a whole lot of memories, even if it gets tougher and tougher to just pinpoint one.
“It’s hard to pick one thing over the years. There were a lot of great events and things to experience,” York said. “It’s all been a highlight. I guess it’s kind of a cop-out to say that. I’m always terrible at answering that question.
“But it’s all been fun in different ways.”
Now, for the first time since he was 15, York doesn’t have a full-time job. In his social-media post announcing his departure Tuesday, he called himself a “free agent.”
York, also an alum of WEYI TV in mid-Michigan, joined what then was Fox Sports Net in 2000, anchoring a half-hour Regional Sports Report at 11 p.m., while covering the Lions, Tigers, Pistons, Red Wings, Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans.
In his time with the RSN, he covered two Stanley Cup championships for the Red Wings, an NBA title for the Pistons, two World Series appearances by the Tigers and Michigan State basketball’s 2000 national championship.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
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