Say Goodbye to those ESPN Personalities Ya'll Love So Much: Official ESPN Layoffs Thread

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Nearly a quarter-century ago, in the middle of ESPN’s golden age, network president Mark Shapiro debuted a novel banter talk show with only the most modest ambitions: Pardon the Interruption featured a pair of balding, grizzled, middle-aged Washington Post columnists, who had either been kicked upstairs or downstairs after years of regular appearances on The Sports Reporters, the old Sunday morning dikk Schaap roundtable. In those early days, Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon were almost comically transparent about their unusual, and perhaps precarious, leap from the smoky newsroom into the celluloid boob tube during the invisible lead-in hour to SportsCenter. Indeed, neither were matinee-idol-attractive or even entirely media trained. Their chief talent, in fact, was arguing about sports—and they were preternaturally great at arguing with each other about sports.
And yet that talent, along with the show’s innovative rundown format, turned out to be a harbinger of a new age that would beckon in a decade or two, after the bright lights of SportsCenter faded and the monoculture collapsed. In those days, producers realized that Kornheiser and Wilbon made for great TV largely because of their extraordinary authenticity—both their familiarity with each other, their own unique tics (Kornheiser’s fear of flying; Wilbon’s natty wardrobe), and their chummy relations with their guest stars, both athletes and coaches, who also happened to be their friends from years of postgame banter.
In many ways, Mike and Tony presaged the current model for ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro: They were O.G. needle-movers, precursors to the network’s current programming strategy, which now coalesces around Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith. Pitaro and his content chief, Burke Magnus, bet that they could expand ESPN’s brand to Gen Z by allowing McAfee to simulcast his show on YouTube, including an extra hour that does not appear on ESPN. Earlier this spring, ESPN made a similar decision with Stephen A., who signed a mammoth $20 million-per-year deal that allowed him to continue producing YouTube shows while hosting a weekly political radio show for SiriusXM. And last month, ESPN hired social media influencer Katie Feeney, who has more than 14 million followers across her accounts.
And yet Mike and Tony are, in their own way, needle-movers for the aging Gen Xers and older Millennials who came of age in the Patrick–Olbermann era. Even as ESPN changes—dispensing with second- and third-tier talent, capitalizing on internet-famous talent, and relying on a panoply of distribution deals—they are core to the proposition for what remains of the aging audience that fueled the network’s ascent. “I look at them as the hosts of the original sports personality show,” Magnus told me. “They’re still as relevant and as powerful as they’ve ever been. And, by the way, they also attract a very diverse audience. By no means are they weak in the young demographic.”
So, nearly 24 years to the month after PTI debuted, I’m told that ESPN is extending their deals by another three years apiece. Is this the final extension? Kornheiser, who is 77, laments his age on a nearly quotidian basis. (One common refrain between the two hosts is his inability to watch evening games to their conclusion.) Wilbon is a comparatively spry 66 years old. And they’ve already outlived, at least in TV years, many of their generational brethren, such as Around the Horn, which was started by their former statistician Tony Reali. (ESPN still hasn’t decided on a replacement for the ATH time slot, and Magnus says he’s not close to making a decision, happy to use SportsCenter as a lead-in to PTI in the interim.)
In fact, ESPN seems to want as much PTI as it can get from its hosts. At one point, executives had considered the idea of expanding the show to an hour, but that idea never got serious. “There was never a moment when we weren’t completely committed to continuing PTI, frankly,” Magnus told me, “for as long as they want to continue PTI.”
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Thavoiceofthevoiceless said:
TK more than Wilbon as the former only does PTI and nothing else.

They bring stability to their TV lineup, so the whatever they're being paid is worth it.
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Tony at least still does a podcast daily. Couldn’t tell you what Wilbon does except pop up when they need an angry old boomer on ESPN radio or DLS, or the 15 minutes of NBA pre and post game coverage that network does.
 
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Lucky_Lefty said:
Tony at least still does a podcast daily. Couldn’t tell you what Wilbon does except pop up when they need an angry old boomer on ESPN radio or DLS, or the 15 minutes of NBA pre and post game coverage that network does.
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That podcast isn't under ESPN though. PTI is literally the only thing he does for them these days and has the past few years.

He's essentially just collecting checks at this point.
 
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I think we have gotten so used to SAS being everywhere and seeing the same exact people make the same exact points on every show that we forget this is actually how it used to be and it actually makes sense. Before PTI you saw Schaap and these dudes on Sunday mornings. That was it. You looked forward to seeing who was gonna be on there and hearing what they had to say. PTI was a game changer. I personally dont watch anymore, as they are too old man yelling at cloud for me and we got so many younger options. But they got older millenials, boomers, and public spaces locked. That show is an institution that still prints money so they are most certainly earning their keep.
 
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Street Knowledge said:
If they got rid of PTI and replaced it with a random show with random hosts would the ratings be THAT much different in 2025?
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Yes. PTI is ESPN’s highest rated show by far. It out-rates First Take & The Pat McAfee show. PTI is an institution, and the older viewers (like my Dad & uncles) who can’t stand Screamin’ A and the other loudmouths at ESPN, still tune in religiously to PTI. Kornheiser & Wilbon represent ESPN, before all of the hot take BS that followed. My Dad at 80 years old only DVR’s the news and PTI. Nothing else. There are plenty of people 55 and older who still watch PTI daily, almost 25 years in.
 
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