ESPN’s Latest Layoffs Continue the Slow Death of Sports Media’s Middle Class

How could ESPN do this? What are they thinking? Doesn’t loyalty count for anything anymore? Those are understandable questions. They’re also usually asked by people who don’t work in the business. I’ve been there.

KNBR, the iconic San Francisco Bay Area sports radio station, let me go in November 2024 after nearly a decade. We had strong ratings. We were reading plenty of live commercials. By every meaningful business metric, the show was successful. I didn’t suddenly forget how to do radio, and listeners didn’t suddenly stop listening. The station simply decided it could create a similar product for less money.

That isn’t bitterness. It’s business.

Fans often assume talented people lose their jobs because they stopped being talented. That is almost never how it works. Ryan Clark is talented. Karl Ravech is talented. Sports media is full of people who are very good at what they do but no longer work where they built their reputations. They didn’t all suddenly become worse at their jobs.

Someone looked at a spreadsheet and decided the company could accomplish nearly the same thing for less money.

There had been reports for months that Clark’s future at ESPN was uncertain. There were public disagreements along the way, including with fellow ESPN personality Peter Schrager. Let’s not kid ourselves into believing personalities or office politics are the story. I’ve worked with people I didn’t always like, and I’m sure some would say the same about me. That’s life.

Sometimes you fake it for three hours because the audience doesn’t care whether everyone had dinner together the night before. They care whether the show is entertaining.

In the end, almost every one of these decisions comes down to one thing: The bottom line.

Executives aren’t asking whether Ryan Clark knows football. They already know he does. They’re asking whether they can maintain the audience, satisfy advertisers, and produce something close to the same show while spending less money.

That’s the calculation. Which is why the real story isn’t Ryan Clark or Karl Ravech. The real story is the death of sports media’s middle class.

Look at ESPN today and tell me it doesn’t resemble an NFL roster. Every franchise pays the quarterback first because quarterbacks drive the business. Patrick Mahomes. Josh Allen. Joe Burrow. ESPN now operates the same way. Pat McAfee is a franchise quarterback. Stephen A. Smith is another. Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, and Adam Schefter occupy similar territory.

Those personalities don’t simply attract viewers. They attract advertisers, sponsors, and leverage.

When reports surfaced that McAfee’s next contract could approach $60 million a year, J.J. Watt joked on his show, “Did they keep anybody? Or is everybody fired to pay you?” McAfee correctly pointed out that ESPN licenses The Pat McAfee Show and that his company pays the producers and staff behind it. That’s an important distinction.

It doesn’t change the larger point.

Whether it’s $30 million or $60 million, franchise quarterbacks change the way rosters are built. That’s not McAfee’s fault. Every one of us would sign that contract. When a company commits that much money to a handful of stars, the dependable veterans in the middle become much easier to replace.

That’s what we’re watching happen.

SportsCenter once created stars. Dan Patrick. Stuart Scott. Keith Olbermann. Chris Berman. Rich Eisen. Today, stars create ESPN. That’s one of the biggest philosophical shifts in the company’s history. The logo still matters, but audiences increasingly follow personalities more than networks.

Dan Patrick, Bill Simmons, Colin Cowherd, and Rich Eisen all proved you can build something successful beyond Bristol.

Artificial intelligence will only accelerate these conversations. This isn’t just about sports media. Every profession will eventually wrestle with the same uncomfortable question.

What is indispensable, and what can be done cheaper with the same or better results? Nobody wants to believe it can happen to them. That’s the dangerous part.

Sports has always prepared us for this reality.

The Patriots decided Tom Brady’s best days were behind him. The 49ers moved on from Jerry Rice and the Colts released Peyton Manning. Even the Los Angeles Lakers decided it was time to turn the page on LeBron James.

Organizations survive. Every time I watched one of those legends get shown the door, I thought the same thing: If they can move on from them, they can move on from me.

I’ve never been afraid of getting fired. I’ve always been afraid of believing I couldn’t be. That’s the trap. Every personality eventually thinks they’re indispensable. Almost nobody is.

After 30 years in sports media, the most valuable lesson I’ve learned is also the simplest. The audience falls in love with people. The business falls in love with numbers, and the numbers always win.

Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. Sign up for our newsletters to stay updated and get the latest information right in your inbox.

John Lund

With decades of experience behind the mic, John Lund is more than a sports commentator and weekly columnist for Barrett Media—he’s a storyteller, humorist, and true fan. He’s hosted shows in mid sized markets like Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City to larger cities like San Francisco, Detroit and Dallas. John has even hosted nationally on ESPN Radio. Known for his sharp wit and deep sports knowledge, John welcomes your feedback. Reach him on X @JohnLundRadio or by email at John@JohnLundRadio.com.

barrettmedia.com

The post ESPN’s Latest Layoffs Continue the Slow Death of Sports Media’s Middle Class appeared first on Barrett Media.