ESPN Announces 100 Layoffs at the Company

ESPN Announce Layoffs. These guys are safe for now.

ESPN announced today that they have fired 100 staffers, with many of them being on-air talent, as the network works to restructure after falling subscription revenue, increased rights fees to live NFL and NBA games, and more focus on digital content.

The Washington Post provides a list of many of the staffers that have lost their jobs. Click here[...]

All in all, we expected and anticipated ESPN would let go some big name talent. But that did not happen, although the reporters they did let go have been on the air at ESPN for years.

The reaction across the web and social media has been trending throughout the day. One such response came from FOX Sports Radio host Clay Travis. He blames the supposedly "political theme programming" at ESPN. He referred to ESPN as "MS-ESPN" as in MSNBC. He said "Middle America wants to pop a beer and listen to sports talk, they don't want to be lectured about why Caitlyn Jenner is a hero, Michael Sam is the new Jackie Robinson of sports, and Colin Kaepernick is the Rosa Parks of football. We disagree with his take.

This website and Roland Martin of News One tweeted our response to Clay Travis. As we see it, ESPN no longer dominates the way sports fans get their information. Now access to highlights and scores are available to everyone via their mobile device.  People don't need SportsCenter, ESPN's signature program, as much as they use to need it. The SportsCenter brand is what built the network. ESPN is by far the biggest and most powerful company in the sports media industry, and it has felt the cord cutting phenomenon, as viewers turn away from traditional ways of consuming live sports on cable. Did you know NFL games this upcoming season will be available on Amazon?

@ClayTravis ESPN downfall is/was #Social #Media. We don't need SportsCenter for highlights or the score. We get them instantly on our phone.

— Urban Radio Nation🎧 (@UrbnRadioNation) April 26, 2017

Maybe if Clay would stick to the realities of the cable business in 2017, his @ESPN column would make some sense. It ain't about politics. https://t.co/ghJbJdFFDq

— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) April 26, 2017

Among the people let go were former N.F.L. players Trent Dilfer and Danny Kanell, former N.B.A. player Len Elmore, former baseball general manager Jim Bowden and longtime N.F.L. reporter Ed Werder. Kannell also hosted a show on ESPN Radio with Ryen Russillo. No announcement yet regarding the revamping of the radio lineup.

Classic ESPN's SportCenter commercials.


A report from the Washington Post