ESPN Cuts 100 Household Names as Rights Fees, Viewer Habits Eat Into Profits
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Just hours before it will begin televising its comprehensive 2017 NFL Draft coverage, ESPN this morning has begun laying off more than 100 on-air personalities, beat reporters and radio hosts, as well as a number of people who work behind the scenes at the sports colossus.
The staff reductions come as ESPN president John Skipper looks to offset a shrinking subscriber base and a concurrent spike in rights fees. Calls to those who will bear the brunt of the layoffs began earlier this morning, shortly after Skipper issued a memo to employees alerting them of the impending cuts.
“A necessary component of managing change involves constantly evaluating how we best utilize all of our resources, and that sometimes involves difficult decisions,” Skipper wrote, adding that the shift in ESPN’s content strategy (which is particularly evident in the evolution of its “SportsCenter” franchise) demands a reevaluation of its talent roster.
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