ESPN employees are bracing for a massive round cost-cutting and layoffs that are expected to have an impact on the network’s NBA arm.
Ryan Glasspiegel of Outkick first reported the news of the layoffs of potentially “hundreds of employees,” expected to take place sometime before January 2021.
As Glasspiegel noted, ESPN currently has around a total of 6,500 employees. A Disney executive told Amico Hoops in March the company employs more than 100 workers who provide coverage of the NBA on television and radio, and for the website, including many working behind the scenes. Disney owns ESPN.
The Disney executive did not return repeated calls and emails from Amico Hoops seeking comment on the potential of layoffs involving those who cover the NBA. An ESPN spokesperson also declined comment on the Outkick story, Glasspiegel wrote.
A report from Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports estimated the layoffs could result in up to 700 lost jobs in all.
“The cuts are expected to hit hardest among ESPN employees who work behind the camera,” McCarthy wrote. “But some on-camera TV and radio talents could be impacted — particularly if their contracts are expiring this year.”
Along with that, ESPN could ask some of its highest-earning talent to take reductions in pay, with the goal being to cut “tens of millions in salary,” McCarthy reported.
The news comes at a time when a number of major sports media outlets have already gone through layoffs and cost-cutting measures of their own.
FOX Sports laid off between 50-100 employees in July, with NBC Sports and CBS Sports experiencing their own rounds of layoffs right around then. Also, Sports Illustrated is in the process of removing salary guarantees or outright dissolving a number of its Maven-operated team channels, including the Cleveland Cavaliers and Memphis Grizzlies sites.
