Firing Karl to pay McAfee and Smith 100 plus million a year.
What are we doing?
What are we doing?
Meanwhile at ESPN
- Thread starter St. Louis Hawk
- Start date
They also fired Ryan Clark in a pretty unprofessional fashion. I've seen some of his podcasts and I like him there. I have NOT watched ESPN in a very long time so this seems more like they are concentrating salary $ into a couple specific personalities and hoping those individuals carry the 24 hour programming.
This is part of a larger effort to reduce staff costs because they keep making bad decisions and are losing market.
This is part of a larger effort to reduce staff costs because they keep making bad decisions and are losing market.
what was espn supposed to do differently?
they were the one cable sports monster, so when traditional tv markets have crashed, it's taken ESPN with it.
i'd argree that they are "losing market", i just don't think it's because of their decisions (and I say this as a former near-constant ESPN viewer that only watches live broadcasts now)
Oh no, a guy who made a few mill over his lifetime while talking about sports was let go. What’s next, a professional football player is going to be cut because he wasn’t good enough to be on the team anymore?
sure it sucks he lost his job and probably shouldn’t have but the dude made a lot of money talking sports. Sign me up for his past career path any day.
sure it sucks he lost his job and probably shouldn’t have but the dude made a lot of money talking sports. Sign me up for his past career path any day.
I do think they made a mistake pivo
I do think they made a mistake in the 2010’s moving away from pure sports and sports commentary (for the sports fan primarily) into a broader market that included some social commentary. I get they were trying to grow their market, but in the long run I think they lost a lot of sports fans who didn’t want to watch the other stuff.
i don't necessarily disagree...but i also don't think they'd be in a different place right now regardless of what they did 10-15 years ago
They used to have guys that were genuinely entertaining and informative, like Dan Patrick, Rich Eisen, Keith Olberman, and Dan LeBetard. TV viewing habits changed in a way that made SportsCenter irrelevant, but those guys were still able to get audiences. Could've pivoted them to the combo tv/radio/streaming shows for that group. Instead, they've gone all in on Steven A Smith and Pat McAfee - two guys that I can't understand who their actual audience is, except for the TVs that are on at the gyms, bars, and hotel lounges.
That, and ESPN choosing to increase coverage of pro wrestling and women's sports - two things that most people aren't real interested in.
fully agree with your first paragraph. i'm still a regular DLS listener
pro wrestling is generally embarrassing and i can't believe espn engages with it like an actual sport. however, i think that's just a business decision. tons of weirdos love that sh*t and owning/promoting that property gives them a guaranteed audience.
women's sports (bball, specifically) - which i won't claim to be a huge fan of - is pretty clearly on growth trajectory that few other sports have. they bought in when the price was (and still is) very low. while it probably won't get them a lot of attnetion from the demographics of this board, that seems like a good investment for them.
Steven who yells all day long vs Pat who is shirtless and appears drunk. No thanks. I like Reece Davis, miss Corso, Dan Patrick, and a few others. e$ECpn can keep Smith and McAfee (and I'll just mute).
McAfee is a cringey douche. I have espn on when I work but as soon as his show comes on I turn it as fast as I can. Cam Newton won't be missed. I thought Kendrick Perkins might get the boot. He says some really dumb stuff and I'm all for letting these guys be who they are but his accent/grammar are just hard on the ears
Bilas could get a pretty good pay day from Fox/CBS/Barstool/Podcast network.
I'm not a huge fan of McAfee and even less so of Stephen A but I can acknowledge they draw eyeballs.
I still don't understand why they gave Mike Greenberg his own show or how he continues to get big check after big check. Generic white guy host seems like the most replaceable position at ESPN.
I still don't understand why they gave Mike Greenberg his own show or how he continues to get big check after big check. Generic white guy host seems like the most replaceable position at ESPN.
ESPN will be much better off without Ryan Clark.
He’s one of the biggest race-baiters in sports media.
Here are some of the dumbest things he said/insinuated while at ESPN:
- Shedeur Sanders fell in the draft because of racism
- Black coaches won't get hired because former Michigan HC Sherrone Moore committed adultery
- Jaden Ivey spews "hateful & evil
Christianity" because he’s against gay marriage & Pride Nights
- Tom Brady isn’t a “generational talent”
- America’s history of slavery played a part in zero black head coaches getting hired this NFL offseason
- RGIII can’t talk about Angel Reese because his wife is white
- Dismissed Mahomes & Hurts' Super Bowls, because they're "authentically black" like Lamar Jackson
- Promoted the idea that the millions of Caitlin Clark fans that followed her to the WNBA were racists
- Tried shaming Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry for suggesting that LSU erect a statue of Charlie Kirk
- Had to apologize after unprofessionally after trying to discredit Peter Schrager because he never played in the NFL
- Had to apologize on-air for sharing false info regarding a fatal accident caused by former LSU WR Kyren Lacy calling him “innocent”
He’s been an embarrassment to sports media for years. Good riddance
He’s one of the biggest race-baiters in sports media.
Here are some of the dumbest things he said/insinuated while at ESPN:
- Shedeur Sanders fell in the draft because of racism
- Black coaches won't get hired because former Michigan HC Sherrone Moore committed adultery
- Jaden Ivey spews "hateful & evil
Christianity" because he’s against gay marriage & Pride Nights
- Tom Brady isn’t a “generational talent”
- America’s history of slavery played a part in zero black head coaches getting hired this NFL offseason
- RGIII can’t talk about Angel Reese because his wife is white
- Dismissed Mahomes & Hurts' Super Bowls, because they're "authentically black" like Lamar Jackson
- Promoted the idea that the millions of Caitlin Clark fans that followed her to the WNBA were racists
- Tried shaming Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry for suggesting that LSU erect a statue of Charlie Kirk
- Had to apologize after unprofessionally after trying to discredit Peter Schrager because he never played in the NFL
- Had to apologize on-air for sharing false info regarding a fatal accident caused by former LSU WR Kyren Lacy calling him “innocent”
He’s been an embarrassment to sports media for years. Good riddance
Any list of layoffs that doesn't include Mike Greenberg is disappointing.
I'll say this about McAfee's show, they get some good guests to come on. I wonder about PTI and if it isn't next on the ESPN hit list.
Ryan Clark was the absolute worst. Good riddance
Charles Davis is really good. Didn't even realize he was with ESPN these days?
Ravech was an icon since I was a kid. Sad to see
Charles Davis is really good. Didn't even realize he was with ESPN these days?
Ravech was an icon since I was a kid. Sad to see
So, had a long response focusing on ESPN having lost their north star and some standard marketing jargon about not knowing what direction they want to go. Then deleted, it was a bit rambly.
BUT, over the last decade, ESPN has gone from being the most trusted all things sports journalism-first ensemble network to a superstar-centric, creator-led digital engine. They are actively dismantling traditional studio packaging to fund a few hyper-monetized mega-personalities. These top heavy mega personalities and their contracts are a large contributor of the need to fire. This is also part of the slipping viewership. And these shows only appeal to a limited population (see continuous slipping viewership). They've controlled all of that. They have a couple anchor shows and have moved to fill the day with debate / outrage culture shows. Also not a good long term strategy.
They responded poorly to the cable cutting trend since previously, they were guaranteed revenue by having ESPN being bundled with the cable offerings. No more. They expanded to too many channels early on, now can't afford to pay quality people to fill the air (see multiple issues above).
Most of the above is a decade + decision making issue at the leadership level.
If not a series of bad decisions, then why has ESPN has executed major, structured rounds of corporate and on-air layoffs in 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2020, 2023, 2026. AI summarized the why and it looks correct based on my memory (but I've moved away from being an avid viewer).
ESPN's Layoff Timeline and Triggers
- 2009: Handled as an emergency cost-cutting response to the broader global financial crisis, resulting in roughly 200 job cuts.
- 2013: Marked the beginning of structural cord-cutting anxieties, leading to the elimination of nearly 300 to 400 positions.
- 2015: Targeted over 300 employees, heavily impacting behind-the-scenes production and tech staff. [1, 2, 3, 4]
- 2017: A brutal two-wave purge (April and November) that cut over 150 employees, drastically shifting focus away from traditional journalism by axing marquee on-air anchors and radio hosts. [1, 2, 3]
- 2020: The largest single workforce reduction in company history, eliminating 500 total positions (300 active jobs and 200 open roles) due to a mix of pandemic-era sports pauses and rapid studio automation. [1]
- 2023: Part of a broader corporate Disney restructuring that saw roughly 20 iconic, highly paid on-air stars (including Jeff Van Gundy, Jalen Rose, and Suzy Kolber) let go to free up cash for digital assets. [1, 2, 3, 4]
- 2026: Driven by the operational integration of the newly acquired NFL Network, triggering high-profile talent cuts (such as Karl Ravech, Ryan Clark, and Cam Newton) alongside duplicate production roles.[1, 2]
Some of those are logical associated with M&A, most of that is reading the market wrong. That isn't a sign of a healthy, well run org. They were creative / inventive / cutting edge when they started. They have not been that in a while. And now that the rest of the market has caught up to them, and there are multiple viable options, they are flailing to realign who they are and what they want to be in the future. IMO.
Assuming these salaries are correct, IMO this is a great graphic that shows ESPN has lost their way on what they used to be vs are now. Like some of the individuals or singular takes takes, I see no logic where SAS is worth this much IF ESPN wants to be a serious sports channel.
Mike brings in excellent ratings, and he's a pretty fair guy. He also makes $6.5 million per year. Bilas is a huge loss, and makes $2-$3 million per year.
Regarding ESPN. They started going downhill the moment they went political and joined the woke crowd a bit later on. Folks watch sports as a passionate escape, not to watch Fox or MSNOW. Keith Olbermann is a prime example. He's been fired 4 times, including from MSNBC because he's a radical, and went against their policy regarding campaign contributions. No one wants to watch that nonsense regarding sports.
Later, other outlets went hard after ESPN's business, and then streaming started. From USA Network to TNT, the college conferences starting outlets, Paramount+, Peacock, and other outlets took a lot of business from ESPN. It was inevitable that the market would see opportunities and go after them.
Later, other outlets went hard after ESPN's business, and then streaming started. From USA Network to TNT, the college conferences starting outlets, Paramount+, Peacock, and other outlets took a lot of business from ESPN. It was inevitable that the market would see opportunities and go after them.
but wasn't ESPN at its most popular when kieth olberman was there and featured most prominently?
As long as they keep Indian American soopa star, Kevin Negandhi. Yes, Kevin is totally an Indian name.
This is fake news. Although I wouldn’t have minded it. I find bilas biased and annoying.