We read about cutbacks and layoffs seemingly every day in our industry. It’s always a sad day to see talented people lose jobs through no fault of their own. The scene has played itself out numerous times during this pandemic, with companies downsizing due to revenue losses.
Many of these folks, especially in the case recently at ESPN, are not household names, they aren’t people you watch on SportsCenter or see doing play-by-play at a sporting event. 300 or so folks, extremely good at what they do, were let go by the network. Some had worked their for many years.
In a memo to staffers obtained by the Athletic, ESPN Chairman Jimmy Pitaro wrote, “Prior to the pandemic, we had been deeply engaged in strategizing how best to position ESPN for future success amidst tremendous disruption in how fans consume sports”. After explaining that part of the short-term plan was to enact salary cuts for executives and on-air talent, budget cuts and furloughs to try and weather the COVID storm, Pitaro continued, “We have, however, reached an inflection point. The speed at which change is occurring requires great urgency, and we must now deliver on serving sports fans in a myriad of new ways. Placing resources in support of our direct-to-consumer business strategy, digital, and, of course, continued innovative television experiences, is more critical than ever”.
In other words, cutting jobs was a last resort.
The division that was said to have taken the biggest hit was ESPN’s remote production group. These are the folks that travel to various cities to cover games, behind the scenes staff that do a myriad of things to get a broadcast up and running.
The priority is saving money on travel now in this COVID era by not sending as big a contingent to each game and keeping the announcers in a studio or at home. We saw this during the baseball season, where home games were called at the ballpark and road games were broadcast from the home park or in a studio. Not ideal again, but a necessary evil.
To a casual fan, the loss of these individuals doesn’t immediately affect your viewing. Programming continues as if nothing has happened. They are not front and center “talent”, but the show has a hard time going on without them. Trust me.
Announcers and show hosts get the glory because you see them. But everyone in this business knows they are only as good as those working behind the scenes make them look that way. When doing TV, you as an on-camera talent, rely heavily on the control room, camera operators, producers, directors and stage managers. A television broadcast is heavily scripted, studio shows for sure and to an extent so are the games. Elements, graphics, opens, replays and features are all planned and inserted at key points of a game to enhance the broadcast. These essential in game extras don’t just magically appear. There are many talented men and women that build graphics, produce features, roll replays in package form and direct how you see a game.
As a play-by-play announcer on a television broadcast, you are completely reliant on their direction during a game. The producers will let you know when to read promos, when a replay is coming and most importantly give you a countdown into a commercial break. For the color analyst the folks in “the truck”, especially the replay folks are vitally important. When a critical play occurs, or a video review, the fan at home will get several angles on a replay. The analyst may talk to the truck via intercom to ask if there’s a better view, or if they can show that play one more time. In conjunction with the producer the replay operator will scour the raw feed to see if another camera operator caught a better shot. It’s all a coordinated effort and only runs smoothly when all parties are working together for the betterment of the broadcast.
Job cuts are a disturbing trend in the industry these days. The pandemic and the changing landscape in sports and broadcasting in general is making companies look at how they do business. Where should the spending be concentrated to get the most bang for their buck? Perhaps the lessons of this past year and the impact COVID will teach broadcast outlets how to better prepare for these ‘unforeseen’ problems that can arise. Hopefully that is the case, for the sake of the product and the people behind the product.
While you may not know their names, hopefully now you’ll understand better what these people did and will hopefully do more of in the future.
Andy Masur is a columnist for BSM and works for WGN Radio as an anchor and play-by-play announcer. He also teaches broadcasting at the Illinois Media School. During his career he has called games for the Chicago Cubs, San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox. He can be found on Twitter @Andy_Masur1 or you can reach him by email at Andy@Andy-Masur.com.
