Michelle Beadle: No Need for ESPN to Worry About Losing SportsNation Star

Next man or woman up.

That's long been the approach taken by ESPN when facing a "talent drain" and certainly should be in the wake of Michelle Beadle's departure to NBC Universal.

The former SportsNation star is slated to take over the top job at Access Hollywood down the line. She's since been replaced at the Worldwide Leader by Charissa Thompson, another rising star making her way through the ranks of the broadcast giant.

Because, when you're ESPN, the foremost authority for grooming sports media talent, you don't fret when one of your on-air personalities decides to climb the ladder elsewhere. Not even when the latest loss comes on the heels of Pat Forde's flip to Yahoo! Sports and Bruce Feldman and Jim Rome's race to CBS.

And not even amidst (often tense) negotiations with SportsCenter anchor Scott Van Pelt and sideline reporter Erin Andrews.

ESPN's been through this song-and-dance before. Remember, this is the same conglomerate that's seen Keith Olbermann, Dan Patrick, Rich Eisen and Matt Weiner (among others) rise through its ranks. This is the same network that's graduated Josh Elliott and Robin Roberts to Good Morning America and replaced Max Kellerman with Tony Reali on Around the Horn.

When it comes to finding replacements, the Worldwide Leader never frets, nor should it.

Whether you like ESPN or not and regardless of what you think of its impact on sports entertainment, there's no doubt that its model for filling gaps in programming has worked quite well over the years, and figures to do so for the foreseeable future.

Assuming, of course, that there's always someone up next.

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