The New York Times is losing a key contributor today. Statistician Nate Silver, the man who predicted the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections with eerie accuracy, is leaving for greener pastures. The New York Times itself says that Silver is headed to ESPN, where he'll likely chat about sports on a new late-night talk show with Keith Olbermann, among other things. Though Silver does have a sports background, having played moneyball as a baseball analyst before founding his own polling website, FiveThirtyEight, he'll also reportedly still be contributing political analysis for ABC News during political cycles.

Though neither ESPN nor Silver was willing to comment to the Times about the story, it seems like a lock. Silver reportedly informed the Times of his plans to leave earlier today, and the newspaper sources (anonymous) ESPN employees for where he will end up.

Amusingly, though The New York Times is reporting the story about its own contributor leaving, the publication didn't refrain from speculating how The New York Times itself might react. "His departure will most likely be interpreted as a blow to the company, which has promoted Mr. Silver and his brand of poll-based projections," writes the publication.