Radio host Colin Cowherd had one foot out the door at ESPN long before anyone knew it. The real reason he left came down to one number he revealed recently on The OutKick podcast on YouTube on June 18.

Cowherd spent 11 years at ESPN before making the jump to Fox Sports and iHeart in 2015. He hosts The Herd on FS1 and co-founded The Volume, a podcast network launched in 2021. Years after leaving ESPN, he shared the reason.

"We have a chance to surpass 75 million in revenue," Cowherd said of the potential of The Volume as compared to his time at ESPN. "I would not have been allowed to have that company at my former employer. I was allowed to have it at iHeart and Fox, and that was really the move."

ESPN is a massive sports factory, and owning a separate media company on the side was never going to fly there. Fox and iHeart gave Cowherd the freedom to build something of his own while still doing the show.

He also explained that the decision was not made on the fly. Cowherd sat down with his agent, Nick Khan, and wife nine months before leaving, and they had already started looking at homes and schools for his kids in Los Angeles before anything was made public.

"I just kind of felt like you can get lost," Cowherd added. "I felt ESPN was a sports factory and I was another lug nut. I wanted to go to a smaller boutique cable sports company and be part of something that was brand new."

That sheds light on how Cowherd saw his role at ESPN, as one member of a larger team rather than a central figure. The move to Fox gave him both visibility and ownership, two things Bristol was never going to offer.

ESPN has reportedly tried to bring him back multiple times since. Cowherd met with ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro before Super Bowl LIX to discuss a reunion. Shortly after, he signed a new three-year deal with Fox Sports instead.

The Volume is now worth over $100 million

The company Cowherd chose over ESPN has grown into something significant. He previously said The Volume is worth more than $100 million and has had interested buyers approach him about a sale.

"It would have to be the right fit," Cowherd told OutKick.

However, he is not rushing anything. The Volume has around 60 employees, and Cowherd wants any deal to work for his entire team, not just himself.

Cowherd is now in his early 60s with two years left on his Fox and iHeart contracts. He has told Fox he is considering cutting his daily show from three hours to two in his next deal as he starts thinking about eventually scaling back.

Do you think Cowherd made the right call leaving ESPN for Fox and building The Volume? Let us know in the comments.

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Written by

Farheen Fathima

Edited by

Soheli Tarafdar