Norby Williamson, the executive editor and head of event and studio production at ESPN, was relieved of his duties on Friday after working at the network for almost four decades. ESPN President of Content Burke Magnus sent a memo that informed employees of the change, which the New York Post reports came out of a difference in vision regarding the company’s long-term strategy. The shakeup comes just months after Pat McAfee called out Williamson by name as someone trying to sabotage his program, The Pat McAfee Show, which currently airs its first two hours on ESPN as part of a larger distribution deal with the company. Dan Le Batard, who worked at ESPN for several years hosting television and radio shows, including The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, reacted to the news live during the show’s “Local Hour” on Friday morning.
Le Batard currently hosts the program with Meadowlark Media, a digital content company that he co-founded with John Skipper, the former president of ESPN. Skipper served as Le Batard’s boss while working at the company and is currently working to build Meadowlark Media, helping introduce new programming and other media endeavors.
Ryan Glasspiegel of the New York Post first broke the news of Williamson’s departure, but Le Batard initially cited the information coming from Andrew Marchand of The Athletic. While reading the report, he proceeded to refer to Marchand as “a bottom-feeder who gets most of his information from Norby Williamson at ESPN” and added that McAfee is celebrating because “he has clearly wrestled control of the place.”
Show contributor Jessica Smetana requested $10 when Le Batard incorrectly stated that Marchand worked for the New York Post. Beginning in February, Marchand has worked for The Athletic as a senior writer for its sports media coverage. The program then debated whether Burke Magnus or Norby Williamson had a stronger name, leading Le Batard to request that the query be placed on the show poll. Chris Cote then played a jingle the program recently introduced to preface Le Batard’s commentaries on sports media.
“People keep telling me right and left that I’m talking about things that our audience doesn’t care about when it comes to the sports media,” Le Batard said, “but every time I do, the numbers jump by a lot because people outside of our audience really want the dirt on the insides of what happens at ESPN, so much so that many of these people, like Marchand, can make an entire career out of just reporting on sports media information.”
Le Batard proceeded to outline his assertion that ESPN is a production company that is operated by producers rather than talent. He also proceeded to explain how there was a precedent that people in front of the cameras or with microphones were not to have power that they could use against the company.
In fact, Le Batard reminisced on when Dan Patrick was not allowed to receive a television in his office leading up to his edition with SportsCenter because management assumed that Keith Olbermann would then want a television as well. Additionally, he added how there was an axiom at ESPN that SportsCenter built the company and not to contaminate or corrupt it, a predilection he believes caused Michael Smith and Jemele Hill to lose their SC6 program.
“The part to me that’s interesting about what just happened today is that do you guys realize that Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith have now some sort of unprecedented power in the history of the place to call out an executive by name who runs the place and shortly thereafter, the executive is gone,” Le Batard remarked. “That’s real and substantive shift of brand power.”
As Le Batard continued his explanation, he characterized the departure of Williamson as ESPN conceding power to its talent while Bob Iger recently discussed the brand’s digital plans at The Walt Disney Company’s annual shareholders meeting. Moreover, he perceives that ESPN is letting McAfee do whatever he wants and are collectively a bit afraid of him, whereas McAfee does not fear anybody at the company. Smetana wondered if Le Batard was feeling jealous that he was not the person who called out an executive by name and get them fired while he was at ESPN, resulting in him reflecting back on his ESPN tenure.
“I blame myself for not realizing what McAfee realized, which is when you have the power of the president behind you – in that case it was John Skipper when I had it; in this case, McAfee has [James] Pitaro and [Bob] Iger – that that would create a fearlessness that you can trample just about anybody who’s wronging you because you have the backing of the most powerful people in the place,” Le Batard said. “I wasn’t quite smart enough to see that I could have created a great deal more unrest, but I also wasn’t trying to get anybody fired.”
Le Batard remembered that Skipper had demoted Williamson and was trying to rattle the culture of ESPN operating akin to a production company. Over the years though, Williamson was able to rebuild his career and move upwards in sports media. The news of his immediate departure from ESPN, however, is being interpreted superficially as a victory for McAfee.
“For him to be run off as a lifer at ESPN, this is a crushing loss for him that your last public act was to basically get totally undressed by Pat McAfee, who ends up winning today because the only reason people know your name is because he called you a rat,” Le Batard conveyed, “and a few months later, he’s more powerful than ever and you’re now gone.”
