Keith Olbermann is coming back to ESPN’s airwaves.
The outspoken sports and politics commentator has been granted an “expanded role” with the Disney-owned sports broadcasting giant, a Friday report from New York Post claims.
“Since we started this, my sixth separate tenure with ESPN, in January, I’ve found the variety of assignments to be the most fun and energizing of all my stints,” he said in a statement on his new gig. “Adding stuff, like being a rookie 59-year-old play-by-play guy, plus the Rip Van Winkle of SportsCenter, only adds to the smorgasbord. Can’t wait, and at my age, I shouldn’t.”
Following the self-cancellation of his short-lived, #Resistance-themed GQ web series, Olbermann quietly signed a contributor deal with the network, but now he’ll be handling several on-air assignments, allegedly starting with calling the Yankees-Astros game on Memorial Day.
Olbermann will also make guest appearances on the network’s flagship “SportsCenter,” “Pardon the Interruption,” and “Outside the Lines.”
In the past, he has been fired from positions with both ESPN and ESPN2.
The Olbermann announcement comes just one day after the Wall Street Journal published a widely-circulated piece by Shalini Ramachandran titled, “How a Weakened ESPN Became Consumed By Politics.”
ESPN has seen waning viewship in recent years, which some have attributed to an increased focus on political issues.
