Sports businessman and broadcaster Craig Hutchison has explained his decision to step down as host of Nine’s flagship football show Footy Classified after 18 years.
Hutchison, chief executive of Sports Entertainment Group, owner of the SEN radio network, has joined Kane Cornes and Age journalist Caroline Wilson in leaving Nine (owner of this masthead) for Seven in 2025 as his Rainmaker production company expands its work with Seven.
Wilson will keep her column at The Age, as well as her regular commitments with radio station 3AW.
Footy Classified panelists Caroline Wilson, Kane Cornes, Craig Hutchison, and Matthew Lloyd.Credit: 9Now
“After the show on Tuesday night I let my colleagues know that I was choosing to hang the boots up from Footy Classified after 18 years, and in advance I had contacted Eddie [McGuire] and arranged to go and see him on Wednesday, not because I needed to, but out of respect because originally Eddie was the one that gave me the opportunity to go to Nine and host that show,” Hutchison said on his Sounding Board podcast on Friday night.
“Then I let the Nine execs know on Wednesday that I didn’t intend to continue.”
This masthead reported that Hutchison, a former housemate of new Seven head of sport Chris Jones, was central to the major shakeup in the football media industry because of his business connections.
On Thursday, McGuire (who hosts the Wednesday night Classified on Nine) described the departing trio as “list cloggers”, and said Nine would deliver something fresh and exciting in 2025.
“Ed’s a great salesman,” Hutchison said in response to those comments. “Anyone who’s talking uphttps://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/riewoldt-s-return-saints-great-back-in-australia-for-television-role-20240926-p5kdpj.html free-to-air TV I think is fantastic.”
Loading
Hutchison said hosting Classified had been a joy, and in recent years he’d stayed at Nine out of loyalty as his focus shifted to building his business interests.
He refused to say whether he would appear on Seven’s new Monday night show next year.
Rainmaker produces content for a range of media companies and sport bodies, and is a direct rival of McGuire’s JAM TV, which produces Footy Classified.
“If I’m ever on television again it will be in line with our business,” Hutchison said. “As you saw in the [Herald Sun] cartoon today ... I’m not exactly Larry Emdur.”
