FSN Ohio Fires Reghi !!! (or is it Dan Gilbert???)

UPDATE: 8-2-06 10:10am
Sometimes things hit you out of the clear blue.

The unthinkable happens.

You get completely blindsided.

Such is the case for many Cleveland Cavaliers fans, after getting word that the television voice of the Cavaliers for the past 12 seasons, Michael Reghi, has been bought out by FSN Ohio.

He will reportedly be replaced with the Detroit Pistons television play-by-play man for the past 23 years on FSN Detroit, Fred McLeod.

McLeod also works as a sports anchor for WDIV Channel 4 (NBC) in Detroit.

Now the Detroit Free Press is reporting that McLeod will leave both his postitions in Detroit to "pursue a job with the Cavaliers."

Shocking.

Reghi seemed to have as safe a job as anyone in the industry. Broadcasting an entire slate of games for an up-and-coming Cavaliers team that included LeBron James gave him a great deal of national exposure on ESPN's SportsCenter. His voice was also featured on one of LeBron's Nike Commercials.

His work with FSN Ohio and WUAB for the past 12 years was held in high regard. A frequent contributor on NBA TV, Reghi is widely believed one of the best play-by-play men in the entire NBA.

So why in the world would FSN Ohio let him go out of the clear blue?

Let's back-track for a moment and attempt to make some sense out of this.

In the wake of losing the rights to broadcast Cleveland Indians games to the upstart Sportstime Ohio this past winter, the rights to broadcast Cleveland Cavaliers games became all the more crucial for the success of FSN Ohio.

The current contract between FSN Ohio and the Cavaliers is set to expire following the 2006-2007 season, meaning contract negotiations were set to begin earlier this summer.

Apparently they did.

As reported by Roger Brown in Monday's Cleveland Plain Dealer, FSN Ohio and the Cavaliers are close to announcing an extension to their broadcast agreement beyond the 2006-2007 NBA season.

The agreement will reportedly make FSN Ohio the sole provider of Cavaliers broadcasts locally in 2008, absorbing WUAB Channel 43's portion of the pie.

Considering FSN Ohio's "desperation" to get an extension with the Cavaliers, it is likely that Gilbert and the Cavaliers had a great deal of leverage during their negotiations with FSN.

Because of this, Gilbert had the opportunity to make an odd request an integral piece on the negotiating table. That odd request? The removal of Michael Reghi.

Why did Gilbert and company want Reghi removed? That is anyone's guess. We're guessing Gilbert's familiarity with and fondness of Fred McLeod had something to do with it.

Remember, Gilbert is a native Detroiter and huge Pistons fan. Both his companies, Rock Financial and Quicken Loans are headquartered in the motor city and he still maintains a permanent residence there.

It's no secret that Gilbert has attempted to make the Cavaliers his version of "The Pistons - South." His efforts began last summer with the well-documented recruitment of then-Piston's coach Larry Brown to come to Cleveland to take over Cavaliers' basketball operations.

After Brown vehemently denied the rumors connecting him to the Cavaliers during the Piston's march to the NBA finals, Gilbert eventually settled on Danny Ferry as his general manager and retained current club president Len Kameroski.

During the 2005 offseason Gilbert also did some housekeeping with the in-game entertainment. One of those moves was the hiring of Ronnie Duncan to do public address announcing.

Duncan sounded incredibly similar to Piston's public address announcer John Mason from the very start.

Ironically, amidst recent rumors that Duncan has been dismissed by the organization after only one season (apparently LeBron James couldn't stand him) more rumors are surfacing that Gilbert is now recruiting Mason himself to move to Cleveland and take over the Cavaliers public address duties.

Now back to Reghi. It is well documented that Gilbert likes to have his people in place, and unfortunately Reghi was doing play-by-play for the Cavs long before Gilbert even looked into purchasing the Cavaliers.

Now while Gilbert is not directly responsible for the hiring and firing of the broadcast crew, it is likely that he was able to exercise a great deal of influence due to FSN Ohio's desperation to get a deal done.

As for discounting other theories, such as Reghi getting a gig with ESPN, we don't find it too difficult.

While getting a network job is glorious for broadcasters, many of them maintain their current employment in a local market. Joe Buck still broadcasts St. Louis Cardinals games, Jon Miller is still the voice of the San Francisco Giants while Ian Eagle serves many roles for CBS while also broadcasting New Jersey Nets games.

Having an understanding of Reghi's close ties to the Cavaliers and roots in the Cleveland area, we find it difficult to believe this divorce is one of his choosing.

As for FSN Ohio, we also doubt this announcer switch was a call coming from Steve Liverani and their higher-ups.

It has been reported that FSN Ohio has an agreement with the Cleveland Browns in place to produce some Browns related programming during the week. Reghi was frequently mentioned within media circles as a part of the FSN Ohio team that would be hosting some of the Browns programming. Local reporters have even spoke to Reghi recently about his involvement in the FSN Ohio/Browns project and the development of a new Browns show which he was scheduled to host.

We find it hard to believe FSN Ohio would get the ball rolling with Michael Reghi and a new Browns show if it was in their long term plans to fire him.

This is obviously an ongoing story. We'll have more as information becomes available.

Regardless of the reasoning behind this switch, there's no doubt that many of us will miss Michael Reghi's unique execution of the English language on Cavaliers broadcasts.