ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro addresses layoffs in company-wide memo

It was a sad day in Bristol as another wave of layoffs hit ESPN and NFL Network. And ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro addressed employees in a memo shared Tuesday morning about the challenges the network is facing.

At least two ESPN stars were already reported to have been let go by the time that the memo was released to ESPN employees at 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday morning. That included NFL analyst Ryan Clark, who was informed during an episode of NFL Live that he was being let go, and longtime anchor and MLB play-by-play man Karl Ravech.

As the memo was released, Awful Announcing also learned that veteran SportsCenter anchor David Lloyd, injury expert Stephania Bell, and NFL Network reporter Tom Pelissero were also among the cuts.

In the memo to staffers acquired by Awful Announcing, Pitaro began with a positive by touting the network’s equity deal with the NFL where ESPN has taken over the operation of NFL Network and other assets in exchange for a 10% ownership stake in the company. However, Pitaro says that ESPN has had to make “difficult decisions about job impacts that we will be communicating today.”

The memo from Jimmy Pitaro reads in full:

“Team: Over the past several months, we’ve made significant progress integrating the NFL assets that we acquired into ESPN. 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.”

Layoffs are never going to go smoothly, and the Ryan Clark situation unfolding the way it did was not what ESPN had in mind for how the news was going to be shared both internally and externally.

Jimmy Pitaro has had to lead ESPN through incredibly uncertain times in the context of the streaming era, rising prices, and shifting consumer habits. While the challenges that Pitaro and ESPN face are certainly not unique in today’s media climate, it is always striking and sobering to see the WorldWide Leader in Sports involved in layoffs and saying goodbye to people who have served the network admirably for so many years, both in front of the cameras and behind the scenes.

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