ESPN Announces Layoffs of On-Air Personalities to Cut Costs
The news
In a move that surprised many sports fans and underlined the challenges facing media companies, ESPN announced Friday that it had fired some broadcast journalists in the hope of saving money.
ESPN said in a statement it needed to cut costs “in terms of public commentators’ salaries,” including “a small group of short-term jobs.” The layoffs involved some of the network’s biggest names.
Suzy Kolber, an NFL reporter and the host of the “Monday Night Countdown” pregame show, has publicly acknowledged in a Twitter message on Friday afternoon she was fired. “Today I join the many hard-working colleagues who have been laid off,” she said. “Heartbreaking, but 27 years with ESPN has been a good run.”
Jeff Van Gundy, the former New York Knicks coach who had been an NBA analyst with ESPN, was also fired. According to him, Van Gundy has worked at ESPN since 2007 company biography. Jalen Rose, a studio analyst and member of the University of Michigan’s legendary “Fab Five,” was also among those fired. The layoffs of Van Gundy and Rose were first reported by The New York Post and were confirmed by The New York Times.
Joon Lee, a baseball reporterAnd Ashley Brewer, an anchor who had worked on the network’s flagship show “SportsCenter” also said on Twitter that they had left the company.
About 20 commentators were fired in total, and the company told employees it would renegotiate some contracts at reduced salaries or some would expire at the end of their term, said a person familiar with the situation who was not authorized to the details and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Background: An uncertain time in the media.
The news comes a day after National Geographic announced its second round of layoffs this year, adding The Los Angeles Times, Vox Media, BuzzFeed and The Washington Post to the list of media companies that have recently tightened their belts.
Disney, ESPN’s parent company, is struggling to stem the tide of losses associated with its streaming services as traditional television viewing declines. In May, Disney announced on its earnings call that revenues for its networks, including ESPN, were down 7 percent. Earlier this year, the company’s CEO Robert A. Iger announced a plan to cut $5.5 billion in costs by cutting 7,000 jobs, representing 4 percent of Disney’s global workforce.
Why It Matters: High-profile ESPN personalities.
Kolber said in her announcement that “longevity for a woman in this industry is something I’m extremely proud of.” Her company biography states that she was “widely acclaimed for elevating the NFL sideline” and notes that she was the first woman to win the Maxwell Football Club’s Sports Broadcaster of the Year Award. In 2019, she was inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame.
Van Gundy has become a well-known voice in professional basketball. He was on the court for coverage on both ESPN and ABC and teamed up with one of his former players, Mark Jackson, and Mark Breen to host some of the biggest NBA games. This month he provided commentary during the NBA finals.
Rose first came to national attention as a point guard at the University of Michigan where his team reached back-to-back NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournaments in 1992 and 1993, losing both times. His star-studded recruiting class was known as the Fab Five, and Michigan made history as the first team to start five freshmen in the Final Four. He reached the NBA Finals in 2000 with the Indiana Pacers. Rose had been with ESPN since 2007.