ESPN lays off notable sports reporters in latest round of cuts

ESPN made more cuts this week, which included some of its more prominent sports anchors, as it seeks to restructure itself as it merges with NFL Media under a deal made by Disney last year.

The latest round of layoffs included popular sports reporter Tom Pelissero, long-time baseball broadcaster Karl Ravech and NFL analyst Ryan Clark. It has also reportedly laid off former NFL quarterback Cam Newton, according to NBC Sports.

ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro told staff in a memo Tuesday that the cuts were necessary to help integrate NFL Media into its business and said most of the terminations are directly tied to the acquisition.

“Over the past several months, we’ve made significant progress integrating the NFL assets that we acquired into ESPN," Pitaro said in a memo obtained by The Hill. "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," he continued. "We are committed to treating employees with compassion and respect and to providing support as they navigate this transition."

The cuts at ESPN are part of a larger staff reduction across Disney, which is also reportedly laying off hundreds of workers at Pixar and dozens at National Geographic.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.