Day 248

Fresh Start_248: The 2017 ESPN layoffs

This article is so tough for me to write. The personalities that were let go yesterday at ESPN made ESPN what is was for a long period of time. While the names that were laid off today aren’t the biggest of names that the company has, but the talent let go today is just a sad day in the sports media world.

Some of the people that were laid off today just made me scratch my head. Ed Werder, Jayson Stark, Danny Kanell, and Jay Crawford are some of the big names in the 100 person list that were released by ESPN. All of these guys might not be the Scott Van Pelt or Neil Everett that you may stop what you’re doing and watch the highlight, but they definitely helped make the company what it was. Not everyone can be the star in their own personal profession, and that is okay, you need role players, and well that’s who these guys were.

Ed Werder was one of the lead NFL insiders for ESPN for 17 years, and to be laid off the DAY before the NFL Draft—which quite possibly might be the most important day of the year for him must be sole crushing. Jayson Stark is one of the premier baseball writers out there, and now that he is basically a free agent, whoever his next employer is they will be getting one of the best. Danny Kanell I learned to like after he took over for Scott Van Pelt on ESPN Radio, I assume Kanell will stay in radio, which could make CBS or Fox more marketable if Kanell can get his own show. Jay Crawford might be in a conundrum. Crawford was quietly one of the best ESPN studio hosts that the company had and I think he was undervalued while he was there. With that being said, I don’t know what could be next for Crawford in this field. I guess you could see him go in a similar route as Brian Kenny did when he left ESPN, and go into a specific sports field that pertains to his specific interests. But, what you cannot forget iswhile you may be sad that these people aren’t with ESPN anymore—these people did in fact just lose their jobs. You cannot gloss over the fact that these 100 people that got laid off by ESPN are now without a job.

Some will find work quickly and go to one of ESPN’s competitors, either CBS Sports or Fox Sports, but for many this might have been it, and that must be noticed and emphasized with. These layoffs also had nothing to do with the talent that these people had. As I’ve said, Werder was one of the longest tendered employees at ESPN and he finds himself without a job, Spark the same thing. These cuts signify a change in focus at ESPN, and that must do with the amount of money that they have to dish out to the leagues to broadcast games, drafts, etc.

·         NFL: $1.9 Billion per year (10-year contract signed in 2011)

·         NBA: $1.4 Billion per year (9-year contract signed in 2014)

·         MLB: $700 Million per year (8-year contract signed in 2012)

·         College football: $470 Million per year (12-year contract signed in 2015)

As you can see the money that ESPN has rolling out is more than it has coming in. With the “cord cutting generation” coming into the market, ESPN had to make a move to combat the attention moving to online.

If you have been paying attention to ESPN lately, you could see this move, when the company introduced “Sportscenter AM” which in layman’s terms is basically ESPN’s “Good Morning America” without the weather or Racheal Ray cooking something in the 8 o’clock hour. The focus of the company for some time has been put on talk shows like “First Take” and actual games rather than “Sportscenter.” For a generation that grew up watching Sportscenter in the morning before work or school this is tough to see. It also might not help that the company is letting go of the people that we grew up on—but that is neither here nor there. For a company like ESPN who was a company that viewed employees like Dan Patrick, Keith Olberman, Chris Berman, and Stewart Scott as a cog in the machine, has taken a complete 180 and put their eggs in the baskets of their “most important” employees. Putting more emphasis on programs like First Take, Sportcenter Coast to Coast, and Sportscenter AM you have shown the world that you can about personal opinions over getting the sports news out into the world,

This might not be the companies fault, and “saving Sportscenter” might have been talked about too late, but pushing people away because of grossing deals that are WAY over the top, can’t sit right with now former employees, business or not.

And finally, personally this is tough. The message that this move has bestowed upon me, is that the ESPN that I once knew and loved is now 10 feet under the ground. These layoffs are just the beginning because personalities like John Buccigross might not be coming back after the summer with contracts being up. The inability to watch a simple highlight show in the morning is something that I get is a thing of the past, but it doesn’t mean I don’t yearn for it. To me, the best hours of ESPN when there isn’t a game on is the Midnight and 1 AM Eastern hours where the two best Sportscenters are on. These two programs are basically the only piece of the past I have, and they happen to feature my favorite personalities left (assuming Buccigross will not be coming back following July).

Growing up, all I wanted to do was be like Stewart Scott, Scott Van Pelt, Neil Everett, and Stan Verrett. I wanted to be that voice that delivered the highlights in the morning to kids waiting for the Top 10 Plays before they ran onto the school bus, or the guy who screamed at the hung-over college kid over the TV as Lebron drives the lane and posters a defender. I also dreamed about being on ESPN radio or calling a game for ESPN. All I wanted to do was just work for the company. Now, looking at what the company has down over the course of the past 3 years, and the direction they have gone, I no longer feel the same way. The loyalty that they have shown their employees for what they have given them is just not right at this point. I get that ESPN is a business and they have to make money, but you’d think the higher ups at ESPN would take in account a budget to maintain the personalities that made the company what is was, and truly made them “The World-Wide Leader in Sports.”

But, I guess not. As the old saying goes “all good things must come to an end.” So with ESPN officially changing direction and laying off 100 employees, it is time for a new company to take the throne, which will happen, maybe not the same height that ESPN was, but a new leader will rise. I think Fox Sports just got a lot more business once they sign one of these former ESPN’ers. CBS the same thing. The changing of the guard is upon us, I just hope ESPN knows what they are doing.

Sources:(si.com, nytimes.com, sbnation.com, espn.com, theringer.com, mlb.com)

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