Inside ESPN’s Bad Week: Leaks, Layoffs, and a PR Strategy Gone Wrong

I picked one heck of a time to take a vacation, huh? The second I head south to Florida to enjoy a seven day break, the news world is flooded with chaos. ESPN layoffs, the poor handling of notifying employees by multiple companies, Audacy and SiriusXM team up (smart move), so did SiriusXM and the WWE, and sports journalism suffered a black eye with coverage of an NFL story.

The lone bright spot, being on vacation allowed me to watch the 2026 FIFA World Cup last Sunday between Spain and Argentina. Fox Sports did a masterful job with the entire broadcast, halftime included. A tip of the cap to Eric Shanks, Brad Zager, Jacob Ullman and their entire teams. The World Cup deserved world class coverage and presentation, and Fox Sports delivered.

A Bad Week For ESPN

ESPN is exceptional in so many areas that when the company makes a rash of mistakes handling personnel matters it’s surprising. Given how many people work for ESPN in PR and management, a situation like last week should not happen. Jimmy Pitaro, Burke Magnus, Mike Foss, Dave Roberts and their teams don’t need me to point that out. They know this doesn’t meet ESPN’s standards for handling personnel matters. It stains the good work they’re doing and creates doubt about who can be trusted.

I don’t have access to ESPN’s books, an inside view of how each executive values each employee, or knowledge of upcoming transactions that will force bottom line adjustments. I’ve seen the reports of Pat McAfee’s next potential contract, and I get why some want to blame him or Stephen A. Smith, but doing that shows a lack of business knowledge. Just like in professional sports, companies invest in difference makers differently. You can dislike Pat and Stephen A. but they are marquee attractions and proven performers who generate lift and revenue. If both were free agents tomorrow, they’d have larger deals waiting for them. ESPN should absolutely invest premium dollars in premium stars, and both men fit that description. Adam Schefter, Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and others warrant similar treatment.

Bart Scott, Cam Newton, Charles Davis, Andreas Hale, David Lloyd, Stephania Bell, Tom Pelissero, Karl Ravech and Ryan Clark were part of the latest round of cuts. With ESPN’s three billion acquisition of NFL Media assets, some of these moves were not shocking. However, none of these people should have learned their fate from outside sources. Karl Ravech is a true pro who gave over three decades of his life to ESPN. Someone of his caliber does not deserve to learn of his fate like this . I’ve never met anyone during my career who has ever said a bad word about Karl. As a former colleague, he was good to everyone. He deserved more respect than he was afforded.

That does not mean others who were let go didn’t deserve better communication too. They did. If I were in Jimmy Pitaro’s shoes I’d be bothered by the fact that someone I trust leaked sensitive news. If executives didn’t like Ryan Clark’s work or style and wanted him out, that’s fine. What isn’t acceptable is the way it was managed. When information gets leaked to Oukick of Clark’s pending exit, it suggests someone wants to make him look bad. Outkick did their job correctly. This isn’t about Bobby Burack and Dan Zaksheske’s information or process. They were on top of all of it. This is about someone internally at ESPN making a choice to push news of the move to Outkick, knowing the outlet didn’t have great history with Clark.

In my opinion, ESPN PR looks really bad here too. Outkick provided a professional courtesy. That led to scrambling to make sure Clark was notified and pulled off the air mid-show. PR then ran to Andrew Marchand of The Athletic to report it first. Collectively, this was a mess.

First, Ryan should not have been on the air for that final show if management knew he was being let go. Secondly, PR handled the Outkick situation terribly. You may dislike that they had the story but by running to Marchand, they not only stained ESPN PR’s image and created a far worse future problem with Outkick, but they didn’t help Marchand’s image either. Andrew is an excellent reporter whose work I enjoy a lot. This creates an impression that he’s a mouthpiece for ESPN PR and management, which isn’t fair.

The last thing I’ll say about the Ryan Clark saga is that I know there are strong, mixed opinions on him. Speaking only for myself, I think Ryan’s work on The Pivot has been more interesting than his work on ESPN. Some of the race fueled conversations on ESPN were not my cup of tea but I also don’t walk in the shoes of a black man who spent years in the NFL. Ryan has had a different life experience than I have. I can respect that. Whether I’ve agreed, disagreed, enjoyed a show or tuned out, I try to remember that the first goal for a talent is to get people to care enough about what you’re saying to generate fans and critics. Clark certainly had both. ESPN will be fine without Ryan Clark. I hope Ryan is able to do the same without ESPN.

There are a number of good people at ESPN. I’ve said many times that I think Jimmy Pitaro has done a great job leading ESPN. Burke, Dave, Mike, Justin Craig and Amanda Gifford are other managers who I like and have great respect for. The same applies to many in the PR department. But covering the industry requires calling out the losses too, not just highlighting the wins. ESPN added gasoline to a raging inferno last week and created a larger mess for an already negative situation. Being dubbed the worldwide leader is often a positive. Unfortunately, managing this situation is one area where ESPN didn’t measure up.

Ten Observations

The Portland Trail Blazers had an ESPN-week of their own The franchise cut ties with many across their radio and television broadcasts including Neil Everett , who learned of his exit in a Forbes article . Also out are Michael Holton , Travis Demers , Jamie Hudson and Tom Haberstroh . Veteran PXP voice Kevin Calabro exited too, reject...

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