Just before the long holiday weekend, layoffs of ESPN talent took much of the sports media world by surprise. The decision to move on from a variety of key, long-tenured talent was made in order to better position ESPN for its future, ahead of the company reporting its earnings for the first time this November. Some of the talent affected by the layoffs included Jeff Van Gundy, Suzy Kolber, Jalen Rose and Max Kellerman – and more news of departures continued to be announced this week.
ESPN Radio and SEC Network host Paul Finebaum was not sure if he was going to be safe during the layoffs and recalled a hectic, stressful day at the office on Friday. Filling in for New York Post sports media reporter Andrew Marchand on The Marchand and Ourand Sports Media Podcast, Finebaum spoke about his experience watching the layoffs occur in real time. Finebaum went out to lunch at a local Smoothie King and was approached by a fan of the show who asked him if he had been laid off, a question to which he seemingly did not know the answer.
“I said, ‘Not yet,’” Finebaum replied to the fan. “I got back to the office a minute later and we learned of more people. Our guys who were in that day producing – you’re preparing a show, but how can you not be looking and seeing what is happening around you?”
The layoffs took place for talent under contract for several more years in order to move their salaries off of the books. Those affected, however, will reportedly be paid the remainder of their contracts by ESPN, but will need to renegotiate their deals should they land a new job with another network during their active contract. Finebaum did not know his status at the company when he took the air for his show on Friday, a similar sentiment to many of his other colleagues, as the company seemingly restructures parts of its coverage.
“It’s pretty tough, and I say that loving my job and loving the company,” Finebaum said. “But it was the worst day in my 10 years at ESPN. I can’t explain Bob [Iger’s] thinking. I think you have to trust his track record, but it doesn’t really excuse the state of mind that a lot of us, if not all of us, were in.”
Finebaum took the place of Marchand on the show, who was on vacation last week and still breaking news of the ESPN layoffs. As a longtime reporter with a litany of sources, Marchand is plugged into the media business and frequently breaks news in the space. On Friday, people at ESPN were fixated on his reporting and learning of what dominoes were falling in real time.
“It was, to say the least, a terrible day at ESPN,” Finebaum stated. “I asked one of my colleagues; I said, ‘So what’s the latest?’ He said, ‘Oh, let me refresh Andrew [Marchand’s] Twitter feed for a second.’ Literally that was the life that all of us people were living on maybe the worst day we’ve ever had. I say that jokingly about Andrew, but he’s done quite a good job of knowing a lot more than anyone else.”
As it pertains to specific talent, Finebaum was surprised by the amount of well-known talent that was let go and had to come to accept the new reality of the “Worldwide Leader.” Through using social media, he observed how there were some people seemingly looking for certain talent to be laid off or celebrating others losing their jobs. While he spoke about the layoffs, there was a palpable tone of dejection evident in Finebaum’s voice, effectuating the extent to which these layoffs perturbed and/or disheartened people within the company itself.
“Does it make you angry? Yes,” Finebaum said. “But who can you be angry with? The people that were let go; they weren’t taken off the air because they were inefficient or incompetent. It was a business decision, and that’s the part you have to understand when you work there. There’s good and there’s bad.”
