Over the last week word has spread around ESPN that the Disney-owned company is on the verge of laying off some of its more well-known "SportsCenter" anchors, as well as other personalities on the network. This has set off a panic among ESPN's highest-salaried on-air talent behind the scenes, as no one knows if they will be the one having to look for a new job. Some of the on-air talent will be Fired or bought out of their contracts, while others are expected to take part-time roles or retire.
ESPN has been losing money
Back in 2015 ESPN had their last round of layoffs where they fired more than 300 employees.
However, these employees were the behind-the-scenes staff, whereas this time the on-air talent is in danger. These cuts are aimed at the high-salaried analysts, anchors, and reporters because ESPN has spent money that they are not earning back, and now need to trim the fat. For this year, ESPN is spending $7.3 billion on content, which is about $1.3 billion more than the next closest source, Netflix. However, ESPN lost 12 million subscribers over the last five years, dropping from 100 million to 88 million. In recent years ESPN has also had to let other big name anchors and personalities go once their contracts were up, as they have been unable to pay as much rival FOX, who got Erin Andrews, Skip Bayless, and Jason Whitlock.
They also lost longtime broadcaster Mike Tirico to NBC.
Changing staff to reinvent itself
ESPN has also had a large staff turnover in notable personalities due to President John Skipper's efforts to reinvent the network for the "modern consumer." In recent years they have also parted ways with Colin Cowherd, Bill Simmons, Kieth Olbermann, Trent Dilfer, Chris Carter, Ray Lewis and Curt Schilling due to conflict or controversial statements.
In recent years ESPN has also fully changed the NFL Countdown cast, with Tom Jackson retiring, while Chris Berman and Mike Ditka stepped down from their full-time roles. Despite the past and future firings to save money, ESPN is also still trying to pursue young, rising stars from rival networks to match their reinvention.
