Disney implemented another series of layoffs at ESPN on Friday. The move by Disney CEO Bob Iger has been expected for months but the shocking nature of the ESPN layoffs wasn’t evident until late Friday evening. The “Worldwide Leader in Sports” has been gutted from top to bottom with multiple big-name stars no longer having a job at ESPN.
Here’s a list of ESPN talent that has been let go according to Front Office Sports:
Steve Young– NFL analyst
Jeff Van Gundy– lead NBA color analyst
Max Kellerman– host of This Just In
Jalen Rose– NBA analyst
Keyshawn Johnson– ESPN Radio personality and NFL analyst
Matt Hasselbeck– NFL analyst
Suzy Kolber– host of Monday Night Countdown and NFL sideline reporter
LaPhonso Ellis– College Gameday basketball analyst
Todd McShay– NFL Draft expert
Ashley Brewer– SportsCenter anchor
David Pollack– College Gameday football analyst
Nick Friedell– NBA reporter
Jordan Cornette– host of ACC Huddle
Jason Fritz– ESPN Radio personality
What’s particularly jarring is Iger’s ruthless gutting of ESPN’s hoops and football coverage teams. Van Gundy and Rose represent ESPN/ABC’s top NBA analysts and Ellis is like the Kirk Herbstreit on the college basketball version of College Gameday. It’s hard to imagine the NBA being happy about their broadcast partner axing some of their best analysts and representatives of the game.
The football side has been decimated as well. Suzy Kolber didn’t even make it! Kolber had been employed by ESPN for 25-plus years and was the host of ESPN’s Monday Night Football pregame show. Young, Johnson, and Hasselbeck were all key contributors to ESPN’s NFL coverage which is wall-to-wall if you haven’t noticed. McShay has been considered by many younger football fans as the preeminent NFL Draft analyst and he’s now gone.
And according to Front Office Sports, the ESPN layoffs are only just beginning. The expectation around the industry is that Iger and Disney will decimate ESPN’s NCAA and NFL football coverage teams heading into the season including “some big legacy names.”
There’s enough talent that’s now floating around that you could start your own sports-based TV network if you have enough cash. Just wild.
Stay tuned for more as the “Worldwide Leader” turns.
