ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro explained in an internal memo that most of Tuesday’s layoffs are due to redundancies following the Worldwide Leader’s $3 billion purchase of NFL Network in January.
ESPN and its parent company, Disney, absorbed the contracts of NFL Network talent in a merger that began on April 1.
“Over the past several months, we’ve made significant progress integrating the NFL assets that we acquired into ESPN,” Pitaro wrote in a memo to staff, obtained by Front Office Sports. “Throughout this process, we have taken the time to carefully evaluate our collective teams, resources and organizational structure to best position us for the future.
“As a result, we had to make some difficult decisions about job impacts that we will be communicating today.
“While most of the job impacts are tied to the acquisition, we will also notify colleagues in other parts of the company today that their positions have been impacted.
“We are committed to treating employees with compassion and respect and to providing support as they navigate this transition. Even in moments like these, the strength of ESPN comes from our people, our teamwork and our shared mission to serve sports fans.”
ESPN’s $3 billion purchase of NFL Network — and other assets including the RedZone channel and NFL Fantasy Football — was finalized as of January 2026.
The network agreed to take on NFL Network talent for the remainder of their current deals before it can negotiate new agreements, FOS previously reported.
NFL analyst Ryan Clark, MLB play-by-play announcer/host Karl Ravech, NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, “SportsCenter” anchor David Lloyd, Injury/fantasy football analyst Stephania Bell, NFL Network analyst Charles Davis, “First Take” contributor Cam Newton, NFL analyst Bart Scott, and boxing, MMA and pro wrestling reporter Andreas Hale were all part of ESPN’s layoffs this week.
Clark was the first domino to drop when The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand reported that the former Super Bowl champ was fired while he was on-air during “NFL Live” on Monday.
Clark — who won a Sports Emmy in May 2023 for Outstanding Personality/Studio Analyst for this work at the Worldwide Leader — found out that he was being laid off by ESPN mid-show and did not return to the program, per The Athletic.
ESPN reportedly planned to fire Clark on Tuesday as part of a larger stint of layoffs at their parent company, Disney.
However, ESPN feared that the news would leak out before they could inform him, and therefore led to the news being delivered during the show Monday.
Clark, who joined ESPN in 2015, was reportedly making $2 million per year on his new deal that was negotiated in 2024.
Stephen A. Smith — who signed a five-year, $100 million contract extension with ESPN in March 2025 — said more cuts are expected to be made while discussing the layoffs on his YouTube Tuesday.
The “First Take” host, who is good friends with Clark, said the bosses at ESPN are aware that he is not happy over the former NFL safety being laid off.
ESPN laid off on-air personalities Robert Griffin III, Samantha Ponder and Zach Lowe in the fall of 2024.
Before that, the network cut 20 on-air personalities in June 2023.
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