ESPN let go several high-profile staffers on Friday in a move described by the network as one involving “additional cost savings in the area of public-facing commentator salaries.”
These cuts mainly affected on-air talent that had been with the network for a considerable period of time and had contracts that had become too expensive for ESPN.
The list of people laid off is a who’s who of ESPN on-air talent, shocking sports fans and sports media watchers alike. The initial projection was that 20 people would be let go, but as of Sunday, the count has stood at 16, though more names could be announced later.
Those laid off included 27-year ESPN veteran and Monday Night Countdown host Suzy Kolber, former NBA head coach and the network’s top NBA color commentator Jeff Van Gundy, former NBA player, NBA analyst and former Get Up co-host Jalen Rose, ESPN Radio host Max Kellerman, former NFL player and NFL analyst/ESPN Radio host Keyshawn Johnson, former NFL player and NFL Countdown analysts Matt Hasselbeck, former NFL player and NFL Monday Night Countdown analyst Steve Young, former NFL player and ESPN College Game Day analyst David Pollack, NFL draft expert Todd McShay, college basketball analyst LaPhonso Ellis, SportsCenter anchor Ashley Brewer, boxing analyst Andre Ward, radio host Jason Fitz, show host Jordan Cornette, baseball writer Joon Lee and NBA reporter Nick Friedell.
Not included among the cuts but won’t have his contract renewed when it expires in September is former NBA player turned NBA analyst Vince Carter.
The winds of on-air change came beforehand when longtime SportsCenter anchor Neil Everett recently departed from the company, as did NFL analyst Rob Ninkovich and NHL analyst Chris Chelios.
Under the orders of its parent company, The Walt Disney Co., ESPN has been forced to let go of numerous staff as the media conglomerate is looking to generate $5.5 billion in savings, with job cuts being one of the avenues. Earlier in the year, Disney head CEO Bob Iger announced that 7,000 jobs would be eliminated across the board through a series of layoffs.
The layoffs began in March but only hit ESPN in April, primarily affecting behind the scene staff. Among those impacted included longtime PR exec Mike Soltys, a 43-year veteran with the network.
Allegedly, this latest round of layoffs was not precipitated by Disney but more so by ESPN’s need to hit its own financial targets. Rather than initiate another round of behind the scene layoffs, they decided to go after on-air staff.
It should be noted that when ESPN started laying off staff in April, it indicated that on-air staff would also be impacted by the cuts, starting in the summer.
For its part, ESPN, in a statement, said that in addition to the “small group of job cuts,” there will be “an ongoing focus on managing costs when we negotiate individual contract renewals in the months ahead,” adding that “these difficult decisions, based more on overall efficiency than merit, will help us meet our financial targets and ensure future growth.”