Matt Lauer almost made the jump to ABC after he found out he was possibly going to be replaced by Ryan Seacrest on the "Today" show, according to the April issue of New York Magazine, hitting newsstands on Monday.

Click HERE for the New York Magazine article that broke the story of Matt Lauer's near move to ABC

"Lauer learned of the leak [about Ryan Seacrest possibly replacing him] while being forced to stand outside the security gate at the White House Christmas party because Ann Curry had forgotten her driver's license," writes New York Magazine reporter Joe Hagen.

Yet, Hagen claims the Matt Lauer's flirtation with ABC was unnecessary--the NBC network brass were never really planning on ditching the 55-year-old morning show host.

"Seacrest was really just an insurance policy; they didn't want Lauer to leave," Hagen writes. "But Lauer, possibly as a negotiating tactic, was taking leaving pretty seriously. He'd begun working closely with Zucker to develop an idea for ABC: the Katie Couric daytime talk show with Matt Lauer--together again. Lauer met with Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, ABC's parent company, who made a strong effort to recruit Lauer."

Whatever the true motivation was behind Matt Lauer taking meetings at ABC, it worked out well for the "Today" show host. He went on to sign a $25 million-a-week contract for NBC to appear on "Today" four-days-a-week.

A week after his bait-and-switch play with ABC and NBC, Matt Lauer was reportedly ticked off by an article in the Hollywood Reporter that called him "The Most Powerful Face in News."

"You just hung a huge target on my back," Lauer allegedly told the author.

Seacrest went on to work for "Today" in a different on-screen capacity than co-anchor.