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Report: ESPN to Pare Tens of Millions in Salaries, Including Substantial Cuts on the Talent Side

Mar 7, 2017  •  Post A Comment

ESPN will be doing significant cost-cutting on the talent side during the next few months, according to a report by Sports Illustrated.

“Multiple sources said ESPN has been tasked with paring tens of millions of staff salary from its payroll, including staffers many viewers and readers will recognize,” the story reports. “Those with contracts coming up would be particularly vulnerable, sources said.”

ESPN is also expected to buy out some of the existing contracts, a rarity at the sports network. Cuts are expected to be completed by June, according to the report, which notes that behind-the-scenes personnel are not likely to be impacted.

“Last month Reuters reported Disney had a lower-than-expected quarterly revenue, hurt by the drop in advertising revenue at ESPN,” the report notes. “In addition, ESPN continues to shed subscribers at an enhanced rate, down to 88.4 million households in Dec. 2016. That number was 100.002 million in Feb. 2011.”

4 Comments

  1. Last I heard, every cable and satellite subscriber was paying around $6 a month just for ESPN networks, whether they watched it or not. ESPN was able to get so deep into sports because they offered high prices for the rights to carry teams’ broadcasts. I didn’t watch it and the fact that I was paying for ESPN anyway, was one of the contributions to me decision to cut the cable years ago. I suppose, with all of the cord cutting and cord nevers, ESPN is starting to feel a pinch in the pocketbook. However, if the guys at the very top want to continue their salaries and perks, the folks at the bottom are gonna pay…

    • Why don’t I notice typos until AFTER I hit “send”?

  2. Herbstreit and his bloated salary are gone along with DesDumb Howard

  3. Psst. Herbie is the face of CFB for them. He may be the safest person at ESPN.

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