Fox Sports president Eric Shanks said he “absolutely and completely” understands the backlash over the network’s hiring of former quarterback Michael Vick, although Shanks added that it was “the right thing to do.”
Vick will be a studio analyst for Fox NFL Kickoff and make appearances on FS1 shows, as first reported by USA TODAY Sports on Friday. A Change.org petition – asking Shanks to reconsider the hire because organizers “do not believe that Michael Vick is repentant” for his part in a dog-fighting ring more than a decade ago — had gathered more than 60,000 signatures as of Wednesday afternoon.
“We absolutely and completely understand,” Shanks told USA TODAY Sports. “It’s not a different reaction than what we had prepared ourselves for internally at Fox Sports. We discuss it. We talk about what happened then. What type of person is Mike is now? What debt has he paid to society? We still believe it’s the right thing to do.”
Vick served 18 months in prison after his 2007 conviction related to a dog-fighting operation on his property in Virginia, which led to his release from the Atlanta Falcons. Vick returned to the NFL in 2009 with the Philadelphia Eagles and finished his 13-season career with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2015.
For the full story, visit USAToday.com/Sports/NFL.
