Disney $DIS is cutting several hundred jobs across the company on Tuesday, with ESPN carrying out its first significant round of layoffs in three years, driven largely by its integration of NFL Network.
ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said most of the cuts stem from the network's acquisition of NFL Network, which closed in April
Mike Kemp / Getty Images
Disney $DIS is cutting several hundred jobs across the company on Tuesday, with ESPN carrying out its first significant round of layoffs in three years, driven largely by its integration of NFL Network.
ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said in a memo to employees, obtained by the Associated Press, that most of the job cuts stem from the network's acquisition of NFL Network and other league digital assets. "Over the past several months, we've made significant progress integrating the NFL assets that we acquired into ESPN," Pitaro wrote. "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."
Under terms disclosed last August, the arrangement gave ESPN control of NFL Fantasy and the ability to offer RedZone to cable and satellite providers, while the league walked away with a 10% ownership share of ESPN. Regulators cleared the deal in January, and NFL Network staff were officially absorbed into ESPN at the start of April.
The layoffs extend beyond ESPN to other parts of the Walt Disney Company. A Disney spokesperson confirmed the company is eliminating several hundred positions across corporate functions, including Disney Entertainment Television, where most of the cuts are at National Geographic, and Disney's studios operations at Pixar, according to Variety.
The reductions reach beyond technical and production roles, with a number of on-air personalities also receiving notices. NFL analyst Ryan Clark, baseball play-by-play announcer Karl Ravech and NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero are among those affected, according to Front Office Sports. Others include SportsCenter anchor David Lloyd, fantasy football analyst Stephania Bell, NFL Network analyst Charles Davis, and First Take contributor Cam Newton.
According to the Associated Press, which cited a person speaking on condition of anonymity, Clark found out he was being let go during his Monday appearance on "NFL Live." He later addressed the cuts on social media. "Sending prayers and love to all those laid off today by ESPN," Clark wrote on X $TWTR. "So many of you have poured your life into that company, & I know how you're feeling right now."
Ravech joined ESPN in 1993 and anchored the network's baseball coverage for more than three decades, calling "Sunday Night Baseball" through 2025 until NBC took over the broadcast rights. Pelissero had been with NFL Network since 2017.
Tuesday's cuts are not Disney's first this year. Earlier in April, roughly 1,000 workers lost their jobs as the company pruned marketing operations spread across its studio divisions, TV properties, ESPN, and technology and corporate departments.
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