Much like millions of businesses across the nation, sports have taken a huge hit due to the restrictions the coronavirus pandemic has placed on us.
It has sports networks replaying past games and with no live games coming anytime soon, it has forced these networks o plan cuts in order to stay afloat. ESPN is up next.
On Monday, the Worldwide leader in sports asked 100 highest-paid commentators to take a voluntary 15-percent pay cut for the next three months, according to John Ourand of Sports Business Journal.
“In their phone calls with talent and agents, ESPN executives appealed to the commentators and their agents that these cuts would deter further furloughs for ESPN employees who may be in more precarious financial positions than some of the on-air commentators. The moves mirror salary cuts that hit ESPN’s executive ranks earlier this month, which amounted to 30% for Exec VPs, 25% for Senior VPs and 20% for VPs.”
“We are asking about 100 of our commentators to join with our executives and take a temporary salary reduction. These are challenging times, and we are all in this together, ” a statement said from ESPN to SBJ.
Stephen A. Smith makes a reported $8M per year while Mike Greenberg brings in a reported $6.5M per year. This will likely affect game analysts like the highly paid Alex Rodriguez and Kirk Herbstreit, both of whom pull in seven figures per year.
