More details in the firing of Adnan Virk are starting to leak out of ESPN. Andrew Marchand, who broke the story of Virk’s firing for The New York Post, has a terrific summary of what led to that.
Virk is specifically accused of leaking information about the future of baseball on ESPN to Awful Announcing writer Ben Koo. Koo, Virk, and spokespeople for ESPN have all declined to comment, but from what Marchand recapped what he had learned.
ESPN had a conference call about “Sunday Night Baseball” that the network believes Virk revealed to Awful Announcing. Sources said the “premeditated nature” of the outreach alarmed ESPN. It is unclear what motivated Virk, though sources often try to curry favor with reporters.
When the conference call took place, Virk was not on the whole time, and the specific information about the future schedule for baseball was actually not discussed.
Andrew Marchand, The New York Post
Virk followed up right after the call with Phil Orlins, the senior coordinating producer, asking specific questions about the direction of baseball at ESPN in regards to its scheduling. The questions matched what appeared later that day in the Awful Announcing article.
Marchand reports that Virk had signed a four year, seven figure contract extension before his firing, but is receiving no severance currently. According to sources, Virk is planning to pursue legal action against ESPN.
