ESPN laid off 100 staffers this morning, including a number of on-air personalities. The move came after a buzzword-laden memo was released this morning in which the network said, “a necessary component of managing change involves constantly evaluating how we best utilize all of our resources,” and as Deadspin puts it, explaining that “fewer people are watching ESPN’s TV shows… so ESPN needs to change [its] TV shows to attract those fans, along with making sure there is plenty of other interesting video online for them.”
Deadspin has a constantly-updating list of all those who have lost their jobs, from college sports reporters to radio hosts, Dodgers reporters to predictive analytics experts. Most notable for those who might not be deeply immersed in the array of personalities that is ESPN are SportsCenter anchor Jay Crawford, former quarterback and current NFL analyst Trent Dilfer, ESPNU anchor Brendan Fitzgerald, and a number of reporters focusing on individual sports and teams. The Hollywood Reporter also says that other key network figures like Karl Ravech, Ryen Russillo, and Hannah Storm will see their roles “significantly reduced.”
[Note: Deadspin, like The A.V. Club, is owned by Univision Communications.]