Some of the sports world’s most notable insiders helped break a very different kind of story on Sunday by posting about President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 election.
Sports reporters like Shams Charania of The Athletic and Ian Rapoport of NFL Network were not the first to post on X about the news, but they still broke the news to thousands of American sports fans who don’t follow politics as closely as they follow the NBA or NFL.
“I learned about one of the most significant moments in recent American political history through an NBA Twitter alert,” posted Sam Quinn of CBS Sports, echoing a sentiment shared by many others on X on Sunday afternoon.
After the initial wave of breaking news posts went out, prominent sports reporters continued to engage with Biden’s news, joking about how his decision would be covered if it came from a top athlete or coach.
“Does this mean Joe Biden is in the transfer portal?” asked Brett McMurphy of Action Network.
“Were this college football, you would hear: ‘A national search will begin immediately.’ ‘We’ve hired Turnkey to assist with the search.’ ‘Now more than ever it’s important for you to support our collective,’” said Stewart Mandel of The Athletic.
John Talty of 247 Sports and CBS Sports said that political reporters now have a better sense of what sports reporters deal with when a coach is on the hot seat.
“Political reporters everywhere just learned a lesson college football fans know well: Once the boosters start leaking that they want you out, you’re done,” Talty said.
Similarly, Ben Portnoy of Sports Business Journal compared the Biden news to a coach getting fired before the season is over.
“Political reporters really about to learn what it’s like to cover a mid-season college football firing, huh?” Portnoy said.
Golf reporters fired off some jokes, as well, with several questioning whether the president was trying to steal Xander Schauffele’s spotlight. (Schauffele won the British Open Sunday morning, as the Deseret News previously reported.)
Mina Kimes, a popular ESPN commentator and podcaster, joked that the sports world’s involvement in the Biden story will be complete once aggregation accounts start resharing the news.
“It’s not real until JPA Football and Dov Kleiman post something like ‘BREAKING: The President is DROPPING OUT’ (h/t @JoeBiden),” Kimes said.
Here are other notable reactions from the sports world to news of Biden dropping out.
- “This is the correct move and good leadership. I’m sure it wasn’t easy,” said Ryan Smith, who owns the Utah Jazz and Utah’s NHL team.