Six months after COVID-19 began ravaging the United States, industries are still feeling its negative impacts. According to Ryan Glasspiegel of Outkick, ESPN could lay off a significant number of employees in response to the pandemic.
If it does happen, it will be ESPN’s third significant round of layoffs in the last five years. Having let 350 employees go in 2015, and laying off another 100 two years later, the third round of cuts could be the company’s largest. A source told Michael McCarthy of Front Office Sports that somewhere between 300 and 700 employees could lose their jobs. Similar to the 2015 cuts, the looming layoffs are expected to feature mostly behind-the-scenes workers.
The potential layoffs won’t come as a total surprise as sports media brands have been significantly impacted by the pandemic. And just last week, ESPN’s parent company Disney announced 28,000 people would be laid off from its Parks, Experiences and Production unit. ESPN currently has about 4,000 employees in Bristol, CT, and 6,500 around the globe.
In April, ESPN employees agreed to temporary pay cuts in hopes of combating the need to eliminate jobs due to the pandemic. While the salary reductions may have contributed some cost savings, it doesn’t seem to have done enough. Those pay cuts lasted just 90 days, and in addition to layoffs, salary reductions for top-talent and executives could be revisited again.
Brandon Contes is a former reporter for BSM, now working for Awful Announcing. You can find him on Twitter @BrandonContes or reach him by email at Brandon.Contes@gmail.com.
