CHARLOTTE — ESPN reporter Jeff Darlington is hoping to sign a contract extension with the network later this year and continue to evolve his NFL and golf coverage.
“I still have several more months,” Darlington told Front Office Sports at Quail Hollow Club, where he is working his second PGA Championship. “I feel like I’ve developed into a role that I really love. I love who I work with. I love ESPN. I love golf, the NFL, and ideally I’ll be able to stick around.”
Last month, FOS reported that Darlington, 43, was approaching the end of his contract, and that it remained to be seen whether he would test sports media free agency. Sources previously said that Darlington is well-liked in Bristol, and that ESPN wants to keep him.
Revisiting Scheffler’s Arrest
This week is the first anniversary of Scottie Scheffler’s arrest ahead of the second round of the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville. Darlington was on the scene early that morning, witnessed Scheffler getting arrested, and spent the next 24 hours on ESPN airwaves trying to explain what happened.
“In a lot of ways, it feels like it was forever ago, but you come back here and all of a sudden you start going through the motions of the week, and you start remembering what it was like,” Darlington said.
Darlington and Scheffler spoke briefly at the end of the 2024 PGA Championship, but they haven’t hashed it out much since. “I didn’t want him to think that I was trying to take advantage of his plights, because I was on TV so much and I just wanted to explain that it was not what I was trying to do, and he was awesome about it,” Darlington said. “As I told him, we’ll save the real conversation for a beer one day.”
Fairways and Field Goals
Should Darlington stick around at ESPN, he’d like to do even more golf coverage, and bring some of his reporting skills from that sport into the NFL, which he still calls his “bread and butter—my true love.”
“I find that the storytelling fits my skill set a little bit more in golf,” he said. “I like a lot more of the romantic storytelling, which is actually something I’d like to bring over to the NFL.”
Darlington also would be interested in covering major golf events beyond those that ESPN broadcasts—The Masters and PGA Championship. “Even if it’s around tournaments that are not within our rights, like the Open Championship, the U.S. Open, or even the Ryder Cup,” he said. I still think that we can be leaning in to those.”
However, Darlington is staying cognizant of his already jam-packed travel schedule. “I’m on the road for 20 straight weekends for the NFL season, plus the Super Bowl, the draft, the combine,” he said. “There’s a lot to the NFL. My family would probably appreciate me not taking on more, but I certainly enjoy it.”
