100 ESPN employees lost their jobs yesterday, including recognizable faces like Trent Dilfer and Ed Werder.
During their NBA on TNT broadcast last night, Charles Barkley and Ernie Johnson spoke on the bloodbath in Bristol, with Barkley stressing a brotherhood among TV sports talkers.
Classy comments from Charles Barkley and @TurnerSportsEJ during @NBAonTNT halftime regarding the layoffs today at ESPN. Two gentlemen. pic.twitter.com/2PByhQm71x
— PriceAtkinson (@PriceAtkinson) April 26, 2017
"I just want to wish all the guys and girls nothing but the best...I just want to let them know, man, that I'm thinking about them." Charles Barkley said. "ESPN is not our competition, we're in this thing together."Over on ESPN, Scott Van Pelt -- who survived the slaughter -- paid tribute to the fallen.
SVP's one big thing. watch it. pic.twitter.com/ZHylgMXKiv
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) April 27, 2017
As did Bob Ley.
Regarding today. pic.twitter.com/H9zN0yDDZ7
— Bob Ley (@BobLeyESPN) April 26, 2017
Colin Cowherd left ESPN on his own accord in 2015 to join upstart Fox Sports 1.
In an interview with CBS, he opined that the nine-year, $24 billion deal ESPN signed with the NBA in 2014 was the point in which the World Wide Leader busted their business model.
"I told my producers, 'Fellas, it’ll never be the same here,'" he said. "You cannot pay four times for the house [more] than what you paid for the house last year. And I said this company will never be the same. It was at that point I started looking, and this is not going to end today. They have really cost-prohibitive contracts, combined with cord-cutting." "It's awful," Cowherd said of the layoffs. "And it will happen annually for the next decade."
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